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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2016 09:59PM by mystery2u.

There are mutual expectations in this business, right or wrong, that everybody should be available 24/7. There are frequent complaints about attempting shops on the weekend, having an issue and no one responds. I don't think you were a victim of religious discrimination but rather that what you experienced was an extension of the expectation that everybody should be available 24/7 and checking their email.

I'm sorry that they couldn't wait until Monday. The same could happen to me any time I am gone for a day on a family outing or my internet service goes out because a moving truck hit the connection box where all the lines for phone and internet are housed or any of a number of issues. Some companies plan ahead a bit better than others so you have 24 hrs to respond, some companies are more forgiving of tardiness and some companies make themselves very unattractive to try to work for.

Nothing to do with religion.

I agree that it had nothing to do with religion. Knowing me, I would take the fight above the editor's head. I have dealt with one particular editor who thinks they ARE God. If you have a good standing with the company they may override the editor.

Probably not discrimination, but I would take it to the scheduler or project manager.

To answer the question asked here, you just have to look at the contract you have agreed to as a contractor.

If the stipulation of the shop was that all question posed with a 4-day period had to be answered within that period, or that you were allowed only a certain sort time window to answer questions posed to you, then it could be your responsibility to be available on Sunday, though most of the companies I work with require an answer within 24-hours to avoid issues like this.

That said, if the contract required an answer before 5 PM on Sunday, then it very well could be religious discrimination. The MSC would have every right to discriminate against you and remove you from their database for not being available on Sundays, just as they could refuse to work with a Jew that refused to answer emails on Yom Kippur. That's how the contractor relationship goes...

If you are a career shopper, and deeply religious, then removing yourself from availability one full day each week will have some negative components that you are simply going to have to accept. You are not guaranteed religious freedom to abstain from emails on any particular day.

Unfortunately, given the nature of our job, we need to be available to answer any questions or issues that the msc might have. I don't think it's discrimination. If you don't want to work on Sundays, you may want to apply at Chick-Fil-A

I agree that this is not in any way a form of discrimination. Your Sabbath is on Sunday, for others it might be any other day of the week.

I recommend that you, as someone else advised, check your agreement. If the timeline you agreed too allows for the MSC to contact you and require a response, the way they went about this, then unfortunately you are bound by this.

I too find it very unreasonable of them to treat anyone this way on a Sunday, just because it's Sunday.

It sounds to me like the scheduler/editor did not do her job on time, and that she tried to pawn off her lack of timeliness into an emergency for you instead. In this way, it doesn't reflect on her to her bosses. I would make certain that it did. Go above her head, not mentioning that you don't work on Sunday, but unemotionally stating the facts that you checked your email 20x on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and received nothing from her. This is on her, not you.

The reason for not mentioning Sunday is that some people have a tendency to glom onto one small portion of an email to the exclusion of the rest.

I don't like to work weekends just because I don't like to work weekends. I recognize jobs completed on Friday could trigger clarification requests over the weekend and try to plan accordingly. I have found most companies are much more reasonable so a request received on Sunday, sometimes even Saturday, could be responded to on Monday. To me the turnaround time of the request was more unreasonable than the day of the week. It makes me suspect the editor was behind and put the onus on you.

as an independent contractor, you are not owed accommodations for religious observances, only employees are entitled to that...

if you were an employee, you could make a religious discrimination complaint IF you had previously notified the employer that you were not available on Sundays due to religious observance and had worked out a reasonable schedule/coverage for that day....even as an employee you can't just make yourself unavailable for a day and then claim discrimination afterwards.

that said, how many hours did they give you to respond? less than 12 hours in not acceptable, preferably 24.....

the argument that it is general knowledge that most people don't work on Sunday isn't valid..many people do work on Sunday.....and most people who don't work do check email.

I missed the part about most people not working on Sundays. Banks, doctor/dentist offices, the post office, Wall Street and Chick-fil-A cover only a small portion of our workforce. There are thousands of other fast food businesses, hospitals and urgent care are open and a lot of bank branches in retail locations are open on Sunday. While the post office is closed to the public, I thought there were still postal employees working behind the scenes on Sundays.

I see this a lot in the guidelines:

"Do you agree to be available for the next 24 to 48 hours after submission, in case we have questions about your report? If we cannot reach you, we will cancel your shop and assign it to another shopper because we have a client deadline to meet."

I see this on quite a few assignments. I know that I have been contacted as much as 10-20 days later (3 weeks) and been asked to provide additional information. I realize you are saying Sunday but to the MSC that report had to be met regardless of whether you had off Sunday, or not. I agree as a contractor to be available to the MSC's and I am.

Sabbath can be hold on any day, not just Sunday. God is a loving God and he will understand.

@Flash wrote:

....and some companies make themselves very unattractive to try to work for.

I think this company is one of those!

Seriously, if the shop were done and completed on Wednesday, it seems very late for the editor/scheduler to be asking a question on a Sunday, and, on top of that, to make it an emergency. If the shop were that urgent, then why didn't she look at it sooner? (I did an urgent shop on Monday that needed to be reported the same day instead of the usual 24 hours, and the next morning it was approved, and I got an e-mail thanking me for the fast turnaround. So, some MSCs do treat an urgent shop urgently!) If she has refused to respond to you at all, that raises a red flag, IMO. What time did she send you the e-mail on Sunday?

I don't think it has anything to do with religion, either. But, as others have said, it probably depends on what the time frames specified in the contract are. If you agree, for example, to be available at any time for up to 72 hours after the shop, and they ask for an "immediate response," you fulfilled your end of things by checking your e-mails on Thursday through Saturday. If the contract states, e.g., "for up to one week following the shop, and responses must be made the same day," you're probably out of luck.

I've had editors e-mail with requests for more information, but generally they give me 24 hours in which to respond. Or, their questions are asked in a much more timely manner. That way, if a shopper is out of town for a day or otherwise unavailable that day, there's still time for a response.

In any event, I would definitely take it further.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2016 06:08PM by BirdyC.

Sure, God understands. But the horribly obnoxious scheduler who couldn't do her work efficiently does not!

Even though there is no legal protection religious accommodation for ICs, we have a right to expect to be treated with reasonable consideration, both in terms of prompt follow-up and reasonable reply time frames.

Just to clarify, if this were an EMPLOYEE, not an Independent Contractor, and the Employee pre arranged with the employer to not be available on Sundays, it WOULD BE RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION.

If it was possible to arrange to accommodate the religion, and the employer refused, it would be illegal

I don't know the technicalities, but if it is possible to have an employee not work on their Sabbath, that must be accommodated.

Take for example, a company has managers on call on the weekends. Usually a manager is assigned an entire weekend at a time. There are a total of 4 managers per region..1 head, 3 assistants.

One employee is Jewish, the type that doesn't use electricity, cars, etc from Fri to Sat night....the employer must attempt to accommodate this....the junior manager can be required to do 2 Saturdays per month while the Jewish manager does 2 Sundays (unless another manager volunteers for the 2 per month)....or a neighboring region has a Christian who wants Sundays off for religious reasons....the Jewish manager and Christian manager could be assigned to the same region (assuming they are neighbor areas and commuting distance for both (ie Manhattan is one region and Brooklyn is another)....they could both be assigned to Brooklyn and trade off their Sabbath days.

But, again, this would have to be arranged BEFOREHAND, not Monday morning when the boss fires them for not responding on Sunday

Even though it would be religious discrimination for an Independent Contractor also (who requested the accommodation ahead of time), it is legal to discriminate against an IC while it is illegal when it involves an Employee..

The law was more or less designed towards the accommodation being part of the hiring process. For example, one can not accept a job offer then introduce religious preferences; and force the employer to accommodate them.

I chose to change employers for example when the company I invested thirteen years with would not give me Sunday off. I had established for thirteen years that I could/would work on Sunday. Seeing they hired several employees recently and accommodated their religious preference to not work Sunday (one did not work Saturday) I thought my request was reasonable. My entire time there, they required everyone to work every Saturday and alternate Sundays as a condition of hiring. Good thing is I am much happier where I am at now.

@isaiah58 wrote:

The law was more or less designed towards the accommodation being part of the hiring process. For example, one can not accept a job offer then introduce religious preferences; and force the employer to accommodate them.

Unless you're Muslim and have the EEOC to spend taxpayer money to fight for your "right" not to deliver the very alcohol you were hired to transport. [www.washingtonpost.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2016 07:55AM by PasswordNotFound.

My suggestion would be to read a real news article about the case. The link is to an opinion piece which doesn't bother to include the facts.

They did not accommodate her request, there is no basis to it. I could have sued, wasn't worth it as over the thirteen years do they did a lot for me. Plus I saw no basis to even make the claim.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2016 10:33PM by isaiah58.

yes an employee can introduce religious accommodation requests after being hired, but whether the employer has to allow it depends on if it is in fact feasible for that job.

a person's religious beliefs can change over time, when they are hired they might not recognize a Sabbath, but for some reason they find religion and become deeply religious....if there is no flexibility to allow people to have a Sabbath off due to the nature of the business, an employer can argue against a religious accommodation.

an applicant can't outright lie and say they are available 7 days a week, then just turn around and say 'just kidding-i'm not available on Sunday'

EEOC is a flippin joke...they are supposed to take complaints from any religion...but at one point they published statistics that showed they were just there to push paperwork...90% of cases were rubberstamped as unfounded and half the cases they found in favor of were over turned in court...and half the cases they ruled against were also over turned in court..

I had clear evidence in my case...i notified by employer of a request for disability accommodation which would just be a slight variation in policy and cost about $5....they denied they knew anything about it....but I had emails and certified mail receipts..but EEOC took their word that I never asked for an accommodation..by that point I had a new job...and didn't want to put out thousands of dollars for a lawyer...it could have gone into 10s of thousands....the lawyers didn't take cases like that on contingency because they were not profitable enough for them...My loss was $45,000 in pay/benefits.....but it could have cost me more to fight it and I could have still lost and I couldn't take that risk of putting the money out....oddly enough, afterwards all the supervisors were fired or demoted from supervisor to entry level aide...

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2016 04:08AM by jmitw.

@mystery2u wrote:

...................................... I usually take a break from all work on Sunday (it's the Lord's Day, you know, and I need a break!). .......................................

You needed a break and you took it. Now, where does RELIGION fit in. The Lord's day is everyday. He/She is present everyday. She/He does not take a break. You did.

If You need to take the decision that the Schedul.er/Editor made, higher up in the food chain, then do so. Don't blame it on the LORD. He was working on Sunday and every other day. The Lord was watching over you while you took your break.

For those Repliers who want to put Sabbath in the conversation-------->Another definition for Sabbath is "a supposed annual midnight meeting of witches with the Devil." Unless the OP was doing this "while on her break". She was not on a Sabbath. She was on a break

Check your ICA.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2016 12:42AM by sojo917.

@sojo917 wrote:

You needed a break and you took it. Now, where does RELIGION fit in. The Lord's day is everyday. He/She is present everyday. She/He does not take a break. .

Our Lord is a He, His wife's name is Asherah. Not the same person, but I pray to both.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2016 12:52AM by DavePi.

Well, now some things make more sense.

The post should be titled--->BREAK DISCRIMINATION.......I took a break, and now I won't get paid"

Of course you are not being discriminated for your religious beliefs. You agreed to do a job and be available for follow-up and weren't. This idea that you can just not do something because it's the Lords day is silly. If you can't do the job because of your religious beliefs, why did you accept the job?

I'm not sure "pointing out" that 2/3 of working americans don't work on Sundays is even a valid point because....you agreed to be available for follow up as part of the job.

Remember this day, remember the day you read the most idiotic conversation ever on this site.

@jrossetti wrote:

Of course you are not being discriminated for your religious beliefs. You agreed to do a job and be available for follow-up and weren't. ....you agreed to be available for follow up as part of the job.

The OP was available for follow-up for three full days following the shop. The point, really, is: How long does the contract with the MSC state that the shopper needs to be available for follow-up? And, is there a stated time frame in the contract within which the shopper must respond to follow-up requests?

Are you saying, youllneverknow, that once a shopper does a shop, he or she must be available for same-day clarifications for an unlimited amount of time, and around the clock? A week? Ten days? A month? Judging by what most here say, and based on my own experience, shoppers are usually given 24 hours in which to respond. Or, there's a deadline stated in the e-mail that is next day, but not 24 hours. I've had requests for clarifications that state they must be answered by the following day at 10 a.m., 4 p.m., etc. But that's almost always been within the time frame in the contract or guidelines. Once I had a request for follow-up that was well after the shop, and I was out of town without access to the information. The MSC was great about working with me until I got home and could send them the information. They didn't contact me within their own stated time frame. I went out of town after that time frame. Was I supposed to bring all my files with me in case they contacted me? They worked with me, and gave me more time than usual to correct the issue.

What if a shopper goes on a camping vacation 10 days after a shop is completed, without any requests for more information, and doesn't have access to the internet? Are you saying that if the MSC contacts him or her and doesn't get a response the same day that the shopper is at fault?

IMO, this editor was unreasonable to expect a same-day answer for a shop that was conducted four days earlier.

But it would be interesting to know what the MSC's contract says about how long you have to be available for questions after the shop, and if it states that same-day responses are expected.