150 Muslim workers loses job after employer prevents them from fulfilling their daily prayer obligations

About 150 Muslim assembly line workers at a Colorado meat packing plant lost their jobs after they walked off and alleged their employer won't let them fulfil their daily prayer obligations. The workers are mostly immigrants from Somalia, according to Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman for the Council On American Islamic Relations. Like the majority of Muslims, the employees were observing salah, a religious obligation that calls on followers of Islam to turn toward Mecca and pray at five predetermined times throughout the day. They allege that bosses at Cargill Meat Solutions won't allow them to pray.
"The workers were told: 'If you want to pray, go home,'" Hussein told the Denver Post.
But a Cargill spokesman told the newspaper the plant, which produces 4 million pounds of beef every day, cannot accommodate the 200 Muslims who want to take a prayer break at the same time without disrupting production at the factory. The company, which has provided a nondenominational prayer room, told employees they could take prayer breaks two at a time.
"We know that some of our employees would like a guaranteed prayer time every day," Martin said. "That is not the legal requirement, and it would be impractical to accommodate this without shutting down the production line."
During the recent walk-off, around 200 Muslim employees initially participated in the protest, Hussein said, but about 50 workers returned to work before the company fired the others. Hussein and CAIR are negotiating with Cargill, the report said, with the aim of getting the company to agree to take the fired employees back and coming to a solution regarding prayer time.
"They feel missing their prayer is worse than losing their job," Hussein said. "It's like losing a blessing from God."