Vonage sued for anti-Jewish discrimination

The United States is suing internet phone service provider Vonage for religious discrimination against an Orthodox Jew.In a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Newark, N.J., Vonage is charged with preventing employee Mikhail Rozenberg from participating in mandatory training because he had missed work in the fall of 2005 for the Jewish holidays.The suit alleges that the company refused to give Rozenberg positions he was qualified for. The company’s management is accused of telling him, “You will not fit here,” and that he could come back to work when he stopped practicing his religion.”This is an egregious case of religious discrimination. No one should be told that they can work only when they stop practicing their religion,” Spencer Lewis Jr., director of the EEOC’s New York office, said in a statement.