The New York State Division of Human Rights will hold a public hearing soon to investigate charges of Sabbath discrimination lodged against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. by an Orthodox Jew, according to an announcement today by Julius Berman, president of the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs. (COLPA). He said that plans for the hearing, the date for which has not yet been set, followed a finding by a senior field representative of the state division that there was “probable cause” to believe that illegal discrimination was being practiced by the insurance company in its refusal to offer an employment opportunity to the Orthodox Jew, as a computer programmer, solely because he was a Sabbath observer. The complainant is being represented by Howard Rhine, an attorney who is a COLPA vice-president.
The Brooklyn Jewish programmer filed an application last January with the insurance firm for a job. Mr. Berman said the company refused his application, telling him it was doing so because of his Sabbath requirements. He filed a complaint with the state division in January and a conciliation hearing was held by the division in accordance with the state anti-discrimination law. The COLPA president said that the field representative informed the company at the conciliation hearing that probable cause indicating employment discrimination existed and proposed terms of conciliation on the issue to the insurance firm. The company rejected this and the field representative then filed a finding of probable cause and the public hearing was ordered by the state division.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
