July 11th, 2007
Ex-Vonage employee claims religious discrimination in firing
Vonage is being sued by a former employee of Orthodox Jewish faith that the company declined to give him time off to observe several religious holidays as well as the Friday evening/Saturday Sabbath.
The suit, which was filed in federal court on June 26, holds that Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage fird Mikhail Rozenberg of Edison, N.J. (ironically, Vonage’s former HQ city) some three months after he was hired as a techical service agent in September 2006.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) , is representing Rozenberg. EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Sunu Chandy said her client told Vonage even before they hired him in September that their wishes to have him attend a six-week training program without missing even one day would interfere with his observance of Jewish High Holy Days Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as on the Sabbath which starts on Friday night and holds for the daylight hours on Saturday.
“There were a series of failures to accommodate,” Chandy told Karen E. Bowes of the Edison-Metuchen (N.J.) Sentinel. “There were at least two training sessions where they did not accommodate religious holidays and the last training series involved an evening training session where they would not accommodate Friday night Sabbath.”
“Rozenberg again tried to reschedule the training sessions following the Jewish holidays,” the complaint states. “Despite the availability of sessions that did not conflict with his religious observances, defendants did not allow Rozenberg to participate in these sessions.”
“In December 2005, [the] defendants informed Rozenberg that the only positions then available required him to work on Saturdays,” the complaint further said. Also, it is alleged, the defendant’s management representative told him “you will not fit here” and that when he stopped practicing his religion, he could come back.
Vonage spokesman Charlie Sahner said the lawsuit is without merit.
“We’ll dispute it,” Sahner said on Monday. “Vonage has a very diverse workforce and we respect the individuality of our employees.”
“We categorically deny the EEOC’s contention, that Mr. Rozenberg was subjected to religious discrimination and we’re going to vigorously defend the lawsuit,” Sahner said.
“I think missing two days of a six-week class, you can get the handouts,” Chandy said, explaining why her client’s demand was reasonable. The attorney added that she realized this would be extra work for the teacher.“But that’s what an accommodation is,” Chandy said.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
