The American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith have joined with the American Civil Liberties Union in supporting the right of a South Carolina woman of the Seventh Day Adventist faith to unemployment insurance benefits after she refused to work on Saturday.
The two Jewish organizations and the ACLU submitted a joint “friend of the court” brief to the United States Supreme Court in support of an appeal by Mrs. Adell H. Sherbert of Spartansburg, S. C., against a ruling by state authorities rejecting her application for unemployment insurance benefits.
Mrs. Sherbert was fired from her 35-year Job with a textile firm when the company changed to a six-day work week, and she refused to work on Saturday on religious grounds. The brief said that the South Carolina ruling in effect “penalized” minority groups, and that freedom of religion was Jeopardized if an American could be forced to decide between his religious conviction and his right to receive the benefits of an established social welfare program.
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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.
