An Orthodox Jewish chemist has initiated administrative proceedings within the U.S. Department of Justice charging that the Department’s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) refused to hire him as a forensic chemist because of his Sabbath Observance.
The duties of a forensic chemist are to analyze drug samples and to testify at drug related trials. The complainant is being represented by attorneys of the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA).
Though the current proceedings are still in the investigative phase. Howard I Rhine, president of COLPA, disclosed that his group’s own investigation and its efforts to formally resolve the matter with the officials involved has “convinced us that there was a discriminatory act committed in the refusal to hire. It is clear from the series of letters exchanged between the Bureau and the complainant, as well as with us, that the applicant would have been hired but for his need to leave from work early on Fridays during the winter months.”
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.
