Islamic group mulls suing Ariens Company for new break policy that hinders Muslims from praying

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) considers suing Ariens Company, which started its new prayer policy Monday. The lawn mowers- and snow blowers-producing company cut its break to only two 10 minutes a shft, which means Muslims can't pray two of their five daily prayers.

"We hope for reasonable resolution, but if not then we will have to explore all legal options, including lawsuits," said CAIR executive director, Jaylani Hussein in a report by NBC26. "When a company has been doing it and makes any changes the law says that they have to prove that there's an undue burdence."

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission said that according to the law "Unless it would be an undue hardship on the employer's operation of its business, an employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices."

PostCrescent reported that 53 Somali workers at Ariens who practice the Muslim faith left the company this month after the company enforced its break policy. Before this new policy, Muslim workers were allowed to take leave and pray two of their five daily prayers.

However, The Siasat Daily wrote that Ariens CEO Dan Ariens said that he will not take disgruntled workers back unless they will accept the new prayer policy. Meanwhile, the company, which has been run by the Ariens family for eight decades, said it is not being insensitive to its workers' religious needs. Ariens said, "It just throws 800 people in disarray. Think of the unfairness. Everybody gets two ten minute breaks, but some additional 50 people are getting more breaks of maybe five or twenty minutes."

Those who left the company were given until January 25 to decide whether they would go back to work or not. Ariens explained that if five minutes from each employee a day is used right, it would translate to over a million dollars worth in one year.

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Islam, Ariens, Prayer, Policy, American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, Ariens Company

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