When Cora Miller said "No way, Jose," Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant said "Adios, amiga." The Clinton, Maryland, attendant refused to sing a happy birthday song for a customer. It was her second day of work, and her last.
Cora Miller is a Jehovah's Witness. She chose serving God over enchiladas. Her religion forbids the celebration of all birthdays, including Christ's, so in obedience to her view of the Lord's will, she wouldn't sing the required ditty for the birthday boy.
I went to my local Chi-Chi's to witness for myself what the fuss was all about (and not just because it was an easy way to justify a meal write-off and mileage deduction). The birthday celebration at Chi-Chi's comes in a package called the TFM: Treasures From Mexico. Each child at the party gets a kid's meal, a card for a free meal, a restaurant tour, a hat and picture, and crayons. They also get to hear every server who is not a Jehovah's Witness sing the Chi-Chi's happy birthday song. (Uno, dos, tres . . . )
Aye, yie, yie,
We wish you a happy birthday.
Chi-Chi's gang is here to say,
We wish you have a special day.
So aye, yie, yie,
We wish you a happy birthday.
Olé!
The servers wore silly hats and some shook their tambourines. So who could blame Cora Miller?
Of course, Cora had to put her foot down somewhere (not in tempo, though, with "aye, yie, yie"). After all, if she had sung the birthday song, what else could Chi-Chi's have demanded from her (had they kept her there long enough for the Sizzling Chajitas to cool)? Would she have been asked to help decorate the restaurant for the religious holidays that she views as pagan abominations? If her religion forbids celebrating Christmas, Easter, and even the Fourth of July, how could she have obeyed her employer while obeying her God?
Despite the apparent silliness, this incident deals with a real problem facing thousands of American workers all the time: Can an employee's right of religious freedom coexist with an employer's right to freely run a business?
If that were my Chi-Chi's, what would I have done? With the help of legal counsel, I would have had a job description for every position. If employees were expected to participate in tree-trimming or any other holiday events, those duties would be spelled out. Should a prospective employee have a concern about the birthday song thing or anything else that could conflict with their sincere religious beliefs, that problem could be discussed-and settled-right then and there (though, in fairness to Chi-Chi's, who would have thought beforehand that singing a birthday ditty would run afoul of someone's religious beliefs?).
On the other hand, what would I do if I were Cora Miller? Should I turn to the government for help? After all, there are laws, passed by Congress, that are supposed to help protect against this sort of thing. In 1972 Congress amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which already forbade employment discrimination based on religion), to include as a form of religious discrimination the failure to accommodate reasonably an employee's religious needs, unless that accommodation would impose what is termed an "undue hardship" on the employer. The question is, How undue of a hardship might it have been on the Chi-Chi's management to get Catholic, Lutheran, Moonie, or Rastafarian servers to sing instead of poor Cora Miller, trying in her own way to witness to Jehovah?
But before Big Brother is drafted in the crusades against the infidels, could religion win this battle by persuasion instead of brute force? Before I left Chi-Chi's (barely avoiding the fried ice cream), I picked up a 3 x 5 card with a questionnaire to fill out with suggestions for improvement. Perhaps, before calling the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and filing a complaint, Cora could have asked many of her coreligionists to fill out the cards and explain to the management the principles of religious freedom.
Maybe it would have made a difference, maybe not. But if it did-wouldn't that be the preferred solution, rather than dragging all sorts of lawyers, politicians, and bureaucrats into our religious disputes?
Olé.
Dimitri Vassilaros is a radio talk-show host in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
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