So, I'm a Navy veteran working at a fast food restaurant in Florida. It's been humbling, but due to the need for money in the middle of a pandemic and economic depression, I've put up with it. I've applied to hundreds of jobs and somehow got stuck.
My issue is that I've always requested Saturdays off. It's a personal request because, as a Seventh Day Adventist, I believe that Saturday is the Sabbath, so I try to have that day off. At my last job, I must have called off over a hundred times in my 3 years there, so I wanted to reinvent myself and establish my boundaries quickly so that I wouldn't have those issues again.
Let me also say that I'm not perfect. While I'm a Christian, I don't talk about religion or politics at work. The world is too divisive, so I chose to omit my religious reason as to why I needed Saturdays off. Thankfully, my GM at the time respected it and was understanding until we had a labor shortage.
Once I was scheduled on Saturdays I asked her to stop and she pretty much told me to suck it up so I reached out to the franchise owner and notified him of my religious reasons as to why I could not work Saturdays. He told me to fill out a religious exemption form, and so I did and emailed it to him and CC'ed her.
She continued to schedule me. I made it known that it was unacceptable by missing 2 Saturdays in a row, which forced her to take my shifts, and she ended up quitting. At this point, the franchise owner brought me into his office with another manager and lectured me on how much money I was costing him.
I told him that if he cared about his money, he should have cared when I brought it up to him that my religious beliefs were being trampled and to correct his GM, who was scheduling me against my availability. He told me that my religious exemption form was denied because I didn't have my pastor sign off on it. He then proceeded to tell me I wasn't Christian because I smoke and drink socially, and I can't pick and choose how the Bible applies. I told him that Christ turned water into wine and that there are literally dozens of denominations because people pick and choose how the Bible applies.
Unfortunately, I was suspended for 5 days without pay, which is a lot to someone like me in my position. I returned to work, and another manager was in charge of scheduling, so I asked them to respect my religious beliefs and not schedule me Saturdays. He did, and even though I didn't like other things, I didn't complain because he gave me Saturdays off.
That is until he skimmed my overtime. I brought it up to the owner and complained. He told me I was wrong, but the other manager admitted it to me, so I told them to fix my hours. They did not. I was still short. I was going to let it go. Twice they screwed me, but I turned both cheeks.
Then I found out that the franchise owner is in charge of the schedule. I get a bad feeling. Suddenly the schedule drops and I'm on back to back Saturdays even though they had hired another manager specifically for Saturdays and he knows I'm unavailable so I know this is retaliation for complaining about them skimming my OT.
I contacted corporate as well as the Department of Labor, but it's not enough for me. There's a part of me that wants justice. So, am I wrong for thinking about starting a protest at my job? I almost want to organize with the churches in the local area and start protesting.
If I identify as a woman even though I look like a man they employer has to respect it, but if I identify as a Christian, regardless of my imperfections, then they don't have to? As a veteran with PTSD it fills me up with rage. I'm not gonna do anything stupid or go postal. I'm going to notify the proper channels and leave the rest in God's hands.
But I can't help but feel powerless… sorry for the rant.