Refusal to Pay Unemployment Benefits to Orthodox Jew Who Refused Sabrath Work Appealed

The American Jewish Congress and the Youngstown Jewish Community Council have appealed to the Ohio State Court of Common Pleas against a decision of the state unemployment insurance authorities refusing unemployment benefits to an Orthodox Jewish woman who turned down a position requiring her to work on the Sabbath, the Congress announced here today.

Attorneys for the two bodies have filed a brief pointing out that the decision violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, protecting religious freedom, and the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibiting the states from abridging the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States. The plaintiff in the case is Mary Jane Heisler who refused to investigate potential employment in November, 1948, at a hospital in Youngstown where she would have been required to work on the Sabbath.