Woman Eats BLT Sandwich, Gets Fired

(Orlando, Florida) Apparently without a written or documented policy to convey company rules, the Muslim owners of a telecommunications firm felt justified in firing Lina Morales for eating a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich in the company lunchroom. According to the Koran, pork is unclean and forbidden.

Attorney Travis Hollifield is filing a religious discrimination lawsuit on behalf of Morales stating she was fired strictly on the basis of religion. Some believe that the suit involves precedent-setting issues.

My take is that the company has a weak case. Despite what the Koran says, the laws of the United States specify that discrimination in the workplace is illegal.

More troubling to me, though, is that it seems the company is monitoring what people are eating in the lunchroom. Otherwise, how would they even know? I've eaten a lot of lunches in a lot of lunchrooms and I've never been in a situation where other people would know what's in my sandwich unless they were looking very, very closely or they asked.

The company's policy, although unwritten, is dumb and this case appears to be minor in nature. I won't be surprised, however, if it blows up into something major.