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Religion in the workplace: an atheist's battle against discrimination (pt 1)
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Recent photos provided by Amanda
Amanda Donaldson is a former employee of Eldorado Chiropractic, a “Christ-oriented office,” in McKinney, Texas. Her claim is that upon her employer’s discovery that she is an atheist he became discontent and immediately displayed animosity toward having an atheist working within his business. Soon after this information came to light Amanda had to take time off from work due to breast cancer surgery and rehabilitation. She further claims that on her first day back to work she was fired and the main cause behind it was her lack of belief. I spoke with her recently in regard to her departure from the office and in part two I’ll provide Dr. Dawson’s side of the story.
What was your overall experience like working at Eldorado Chiropractic?
I loved my job. I was even told by Dr. Dawson that I was the best employee he ever had. It was a great place to work, however the pressure to be part of his Christian fellowship was overwhelming. He pressured me daily to go to this workshop called “The Road.” It has a website, theroadadventure.com, but on the website it mentions nothing about God. Only by his pressure to attend did I learn that the last part of the workshop, which he teaches, is about how God can make you all better.
Did he tell you he was running a "Christ-oriented office" when you were hired?
No, he asked if him being a Christian was a problem for me and I stated that it was not.
Was Dr. Dawson aware of your position as an atheist and if not, how did he find out?
No, he was not aware that I am an atheist. I felt this was an inappropriate conversation for the workplace. I have been a quiet atheist as long as I can remember, but I respect other’s beliefs. I am not sure how he found out. He says that it was because of my husband’s blog, but due to the fact that I never told him about the website, I am unsure how he found it.
When did your employer first display animosity toward you and why?
3/26/09- He found a website that my husband had made for me, saveamanda.com, with a link to a blog that he is keeping. My employer did not agree with the anti-Christian opinions expressed within it and threatened to fire me that day if my husband did not take the blog down. We removed all the anti-Christian stuff but left it up anyway.
What happened between the day he found your husband's blog and the day you were fired?
The day that he found the blog he called me back into his office and explained to me that he could not have something with this view associated with his place of business. I explained that it’s the internet and the internet is huge, so the odds of one of his patients, potential or existing, finding it without being pointed to it were a million to one. He demanded the blog be removed and I refused. I explained to him that this was my husband’s blog and it was the only outlet he has for the emotions and opinions he was feeling and I would not tell him he had to remove it. After telling my husband what Dr. Dawson said he edited it so that there were no mentions of religion in it. He did this to try to save my job as I had already been threatened with termination due to the fact that I had cancer.
He had his patients pray over me, put their hands on me, and "cast out the demon" inside me. I actually had one woman command the cancer to come out of me and come back 10 minutes later and tell me, "I just wanted you to know that God just told me to tell you not to worry that you will live through this."
I never fought against the prayer, which is my fault, but I thought these people were just ignorant and didn’t know what else to do but close their eyes, talk to their fairy and wish really hard, but at least they were showing concern. I don’t tell people not to pray because that is all some of them know how to do. I was very tolerant and polite and never once laughed at them or made them feel stupid in any way.
What exactly happened the day you were terminated?
5/4/09- The day I was fired I was busy trying to straighten up the stuff he had just let pile up while I was recovering from my mastectomy. This included the front office/desk work, patient care and back office work as well as cleaning the office up (which I was not supposed to do due to the limitations in effect after the surgery. I needed to vacuum because he said, "Well you know I am not going to do it.") He had hardly spoken a word to me and I was all into getting things back in order for the afternoon. When he did start the casual how are you feeling conversation I told him I was hurting a little but I had some medicine in my purse I could take if it got too bad. He asked me about Brant, my husband, and I told him the good news about him finding a good job, 8-5, M-F with benefits.
He walked away and came back a short while later, approached me and said,
“I cannot have negativity toward God associated with this place (indicating his office), it’s all I have.”
He pressured me once again to attend his church, which I had previously done as a requirement for my job (I did get paid for it) and I said thanks for the invite but I think I am ok. I then told him I was never negative nor did I have an outspoken attitude about my beliefs within his office to which he replied,
"There is no place for your thoughts, opinions and beliefs on God in my office, please give me your key and leave.”
I then told him that no one but him even knew how I believed; I didn’t talk to the patients about it and never brought it up when the patients asked if they could pray for me. I told him that I had been very tolerant of his beliefs and those of the patients and asked why this was a problem. To this he replied,
“You're never here anyway!” (referring to my being gone for surgery.)
He then proceeded to scream and yell at me, while I was trying to get the key to his office off my keychain and gather my belongings, demanding that if I would accept Jesus I would be ok and telling me there was no point in my being there anyway, since I was never there. I then proceeded to walk the four miles to my house due to the fact that we are a single-car family and my husband had the car.
What action have you taken since your termination?
I have filed complaints with the EEOC, TWC, State Senator Shapiro, Rep Ken Paxton and spoken to several attorneys. They all say the same thing. State Labor Law is set up to protect small business. If there are under 15 employees there is nothing you can do about discrimination of any kind, racial, gender, age, religion or disability. I did however get the Senator’s office to submit a legislative suggestion to try to have the law changed to protect people who work for small businesses and I am supposed to schedule a time to go talk to them this summer. The senate is in session now so I have to wait. I have stated several times that I don’t want to sue him for his things, though I don’t know how we are going to survive now with me not having any income, I just want him and other small business owners to know that this is not right, it’s unconstitutional. I want the laws to be changed to protect others. I would like every one to know that this "good Christian man" they all think so highly of is not what he pretends to be.
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