Sabbath Observers Entitled to Unemployment Compensation

The Ohio State Supreme Court, by a four to three vote, reversed a 1949 decision and ruled that conscientious Sabbath observers who refuse work on Saturday because of their religious convictions cannot be denied unemployment compensation benefits.

The case arose when Regina Tary of Toledo, a Seventh Day Adventist, denied unemployment compensation because she refused work on the Sabbath, carried her case to the courts, alleging that the addition by the Ohio Legislature of "morals" as a bona fide reason for refusing work included religious convictions.

Six Ohio Jewish community organizations: Jewish Community Council of Akron, Cincinnati Jewish Community Council, Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, Columbus Jewish Community Council, Jewish Community Council of Dayton, and the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Youngstown submitted a brief as "friends of the court" when the issue reached the Ohio Supreme Court. The lower courts had ruled in favor of Mrs. Tary.

The Ohio Jewish community organizations in their brief said that they "obviously have a direct interest in the controversy, since Jews observe the same Sabbath as the Seventh Day Adventists. Were the Sabbath involved in this case the first rather than the seventh day of the week, we would be equally concerned. The organizations we represent are devoted to the preservation of religion and the protection of civil rights. " Leo Pfeffer, Assistant National Director of the Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress, acted as counsel in preparation of the brief and pleaded the constitutional aspects of the case before the Supreme Court.

(In New York, Rabbi Normal Salit, president of the Synagogue Council of America, and Bernard H, Trager, chairman of the National Community Relations Advisory Council, joined in hailing as a "great gain in the continuing battle for the preservation of religious liberties" the decision of the Ohio Supreme Court.)