Currently there is a boycott being promoted against Bath and Body Works. The popular company is being sued for religious persecution. One of their managers in Connecticut was fired for observing Sahmain. The suit was filed on October 15th of this year.
Sahmain occurs on October 31st and is considered by many Pagans to be the New Year. The plaintiff, Gina Uberti, in this case is Wiccan and had been prior to hiring with this company. Every year for the last six years of her eight year employment, she would take the week of Sahmain off and head to Salem, Massachusetts to celebrate the holiday. Her leave had been approved almost a year prior to the incident.
In 2008, a new manager had been hired into Uberti’s store and had called Uberti to discuss why she was unavailable to her employers during her vacation. She also expressed her disappointment in the fact that Uberti would take a vacation during such a critical time in the company. Uberti informed her manager that the leave was approved almost a full year before. After her manager inquired as to why she would take that particular week off, Uberti disclosed her religious beliefs and explained what she believed and why October 31st was such an important holiday.
Her manager replied, “that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, let me ask you where your priorities should have been?” Uberti asked what was so ridiculous and was told, “Well, you will need a new career in your new year” and “I will be damned if I have a devil-worshipper on my team.” Uberti was fired shortly after the phone call.
Discrimination as blatant as this raised a cry of alarm through the Pagan Community across the country. A popular blogging site, “The Witches Hunt” carries on leg of the boycott request. (http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/bath-and-body-works-manager-doesnt-want-to-work-with-satanists.html) Individuals in Sacramento are also boycotting Bath and Body Works. Many Pagans are outraged. Bath and Body Works has been very popular and the Pagan Community is shocked to see such a modern company having such a closed minded view of a portion of their customer base. The Examiner will keep a close watch on this case and report as it unfolds further.
To see the full complaint please go to: http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/10/23/Wiccan.pdf
Comments
Have already sent a strongly worded note to B&BW via their web site. Would do the same for any other persecutee (who wasn't prosteletysing on duty at work, which is a whole different diet of worms).
What an excellent idea Sean!
Emails and letters send one kind of message. Our absence from their stores sends another kind of message. With the holidays approaching and budgets tight, boycotting their stores and holiday sales would definitely have an impact. Where we spend our dollars is the best message that can be sent.
Errata: You referred to Uberti's "store," Uberti was a district sales manager or some such and the woman who fired her, Sandra Scibelli, is the regional manager for the NYC region. And Jason Pitzl-Waters' excellent blog is titled "The Wild Hunt."
People who contact B&BW are getting a atock response that the parent company has a strict policy against discrimination but can't comment on ongoing litigation. Standard stuff and quite true as far as it goes. They also emailed me some sort of coupon.
I'm not a wiccan or pagan, but certainly am appalled that any manager who acted this way is still employed by that company! Freedom to worship in the manner we choose (as long as it doens't harm others) is a foundational right of America. This is disgusting and I will no longer be a B & B customer.
You spelled Samhain wrong. FYI. Yeah this sucks. I like their shampoo, but I won't be buying it until they settle and publicly apologize for their actions to the Wiccan/Pagan community.
This is just one of the most stupid things I have ever read. If it were a Christian who had been fired for a religious holiday they had taken the day off for, there would be no question as to whether it is discrimination. Wicca is a religion, and as such it's followers have certain protections. As much as the Christians may hate it, Wiccans have the same rights and protections that Christians do. It's a great example of the double standard most of this country holds for anything "left of center".
If she is on an approved vacation it is nobody's business where she is. BTW: I am a CHRISTIAN
Even if I weren't Pagan, I'd be extremely upset. Please, whatever your religious identity, support your fellow human beings' right to pursue their own spiritual path in peace. Contact BBW, spread the word, and spend your hard-earned money somewhere else. The actions of Uberti's manager were illegal, unethical, and ignorant.
Even if I weren't Pagan, I'd be extremely upset. Please, whatever your religious identity, support your fellow human beings' right to pursue their own spiritual path in peace. Contact BBW, spread the word, and spend your hard-earned money somewhere else. The actions of Uberti's manager were illegal, unethical, and ignorant.
Even if I weren't Pagan, I'd be extremely upset. Please, whatever your religious identity, support your fellow human beings' right to pursue their own spiritual path in peace. Contact BBW, spread the word, and spend your hard-earned money somewhere else. The actions of Uberti's manager were illegal, unethical, and ignorant.
Even if I weren't Pagan, I'd be extremely upset. Please, whatever your religious identity, support your fellow human beings' right to pursue their own spiritual path in peace. Contact BBW, spread the word, and spend your hard-earned money somewhere else. The actions of Uberti's manager were illegal, unethical, and ignorant.
It's too bad there are so many short-sighted people in the world, with such small ways and views of the world. I think Bath and Body Works should consider letting go the person who made the ignorant and wrong statement about the employee to start with. Perhaps major companies should be a little more careful about who they hire to be in charge of people who do their hiring and firing...eventually these people will be weeded out, but It would be great if it were sooner instead of later.
I'm Christian and this is ridiculous. That direct sales manager or store manager or whatever he was should be fired for this violation of Ms. Uberti's rights. He had no right to even ask where she was during that week, much less fire her over it. Bath & Body Works should settle this ASAP before they look even worse.
I'm not a Wiccan, but I will not be shopping at Bath and Bodyworks until they remove that regional manager from a position of supervising other people.
Terrible, as a Christian and a Witch, I am appalled. Bath and Body Works Shame on You
This is all real sad. The manager should be fired and the employee given her job back. The manager had no right to degrade a person for the faith. Also. When the manager is on vacation, does she make herself available to work. Vacation is to be used as one sees fit, it's not a jobs business what a person does or where they go or what religion they choose to follow. Give the employee back her job and fire the manager for being unprofessional and not respecting religious choices. Would the manager fire everybody not Christian. She'd have very little staff left.
To all freedom-loving people everywhere: there are A LOT of places to buy bath products, many of which are local/small businesses. Look on etsy, buyolympia, google or any number of alternative womens' magazines. If Bath and Body won't fire the manager, I know there are tons of places to shop where this kind of hateful crap isn't an issue!
Just and FYI: your "print" button isn't working, in at least Firefox 3.5. Haven't checked other browsers...I kinda figure that should be your web developers' job.
I have just sent a letter to bath and body letting them know my intent is to boycott thier store. I have a metaphysical store in anchorage alaska . I will be reprinting this for the store . As well i have a two thousand name mailing list .I will not allow this kind of action to go on without lending my support for this horrible action of religious intolerance. I personally fight it everyday. I educate everyday.
You people do know that BBW isnt the reason this woman was fired right? That was a manager in the companies decision. The woman was fired by one manager after as the article said was 8 years of complete understanding. Grow up and stop acting like babies. Why dont you boycott the manager (who fired the woman) getting a new job, rather than a company who as it sounds in this article, fully believed in her right to celebrate the holiday.
You must also realise that what you are doing, is the exact reason the manager was able to act the way that she did. Your decision to boycott a company because of its employees actions and not the way they handled it causes the company to have to not ask for their particular descriminatory feelings. Because then that is harassment against her. Finf out the story behind it. Boycott that particular store if the woman still works there but I'll guarantee you this. The manager was fired for violating the womans civil rights. They will try and avoid a lawsuit. I work in a company dealing with this sort of issue all the time. They arent high fiving at a CEO meeting congratulating the manager. Far from it.
"Devil Worshipper"???? this kind of ignorance is really scary to me...Wicca has absolutely nothing to do with "the devil".
this is totally sick...I will be boycotting this company for sure until they issue an apology.
p.s. I am Jewish...which I suppose would seem evil to her, too.
Paganism =/= Satanism. And even so, the US has religious freedom as one of its primary 'laws'. People can worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Elvis if they wish. I hope for HUGE damages to be awarded in this case.
The devil comment is not intended towards the wiccans. I have friends who are wiccans so I dont really care how you percieve the name. The devils advocate, oppositely viewed opinions spoken being thought of as "the devil" is why I have the name on here. As this last person has said. The woman will get large dollar amounts in a lawsuit and thats how BBW will pay for their employees mistake. Boycotting a company because of an employees actions that the company will handle is taking the US and its laws down a dark and scary spiral that in a few years you will wish you hadnt brought it to. Remember that although you may not believe what the woman did and said she has the right to say it. It goes against BBW policy so she will be terminated and an award of money will be given to her. Read the article this woman had been able to celebrate the holiday for many years until 1 persons views and opinion got in the way
BTW Becca it is people like you who make cases like this get so over the top.
@ the poster going by the name of The Devil! - you are mistaken, and you don't know what you're talking about: by allowing the manager to fire the employee, BBW is complicit in discrimination. If the company were truly sincere about civil rights in this case, they could have overidden the manager's decision to fire this employee.
To Devil! You are ignorant about the law - according to the EEO, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
to the person who is, charmingly, calling themselves "the Devil":
how could it not be directed toward Wiccans? She said, if you will read the article, "I will be damned if I have a devil-worshipper on my team."
those were the manager's words.
She is calling the wiccan woman a "devil-worshipper" which is the height of ignorance...and bigotry in the workplace is not acceptable.
please ... learn to read before you start trying to put down other people's intelligence. It just makes you look very foolish.
Isn't it the law that you cannot fire, or not hire someone on the basis of religious beliefs? The company should realize the error and rehire the employee immediately. As for the people that believe Wicca is "devil worship," they should find out where their precious religion & holidays were derived from. If you cannot or refuse to read, watch the history channel and learn instead of bashing those who practice one of the oldest religions! Thank you and have a wonderful day!
@ The Devil - While you raise some valid points, I think you also miss a few. You are correct that it was the actions of one manager and not BBW as a whole, but merely boycotting one store won't send a message whereas is a large group of people boycotts *all* BBW stores then corporate will likely take notice and actually do something, like terminate the offending manager and codify the unofficial religious tolerance policy that they were operating under for the previous years of this woman's employment, thus making BBW *OFFICIALLY* religiously tolerant as opposed to relying on people to do the right thing.
Now, if you still feel that boycotts are a bad idea, then tell me how else you can get a company to listen. They generally don't care about public perception except insofar as it affects their profits. If you don't affect their bottom-line, they don't care!
1. Dear God(dess), how blatantly unAmerican!
2. Strange as it may seem, the correct spelling is "Samhain", with the M before the H.
In response to the DevilAgain!'s claims that a boycott is unnecessary because BBW will be punished through the lawsuit... there is no guarantee that the courts will find in favor of the plaintiff. Boycotting works. The opinion of the customer as voiced by his/her pocketbook can and does make a difference all the time.
Once again ignorance runs rapid amongest the uninformed! Blessed Be to the fools for they will need it!
Once again we are called devil worshippers and our beliefs are repugnant to those in power. Like our bosses. So many of us STILL are unable to come out of the proverbial "broom-closet" and this is supposed to be America.
Please support the boycott, write letters to the main offices of Bath and Body Works expressing your reasons for not shopping there, etc. This is extremely irresponsible on the part of the company as well as discriminatory!
Ugh,
In Peace,
Zorya
neither pagan, or wiccan, but despise any & all who try to force their prejudices on others. I will also be boycotting Bath & Bodyworks
Ummmmm, someone needs to learn to spell "Samhain"....at least the spelling error is consistent.
P. F-in S. We do not believe in the Christian's heaven or hell. Get over yourself. This isn't the United States of Christianity!
I will be boycotting this store until the higher ups do something and fire that awful bigot.
Well I can say that I had never been to the store.I myself am a Pagan/Wiccan and persactuions like this gets me a bit upset.But like someone else said(I forget the person that said it) they are just down right ignorant and uneducated(uf misspelled it I am sory spelling is not my srong suit).Plus where I am standing and outlook on it ignorant and closeminded people (no matter what their beliefs are) give that belif a bad name
Samhain is spelled like this not Sahmain. But back to the article's topic: what goes around comes arounf-threefold.
Blessed Be, lunastyx
To all those who are boycotting, I agree you have a right to, it's a free country. But as a person of no religious faith (I am an atheist) I believe that, like it or not, B&BW is not to blame here. These are the ALLEGED actions of one person not the entire company and the company is doing what they have to do to investigate the situation. If they over reacted and took the other employee's word for it then they'd be discriminating against them as well. I think any kind of intolerance is terrible but it happens and even our forefathers who came here to escape religious persecution did it to others that didn't believe what they believed. It's human nature to judge and react negatively to those who aren't like "me"... I'm personally waiting to see how the judge and jury handle it and then how B&BW handles it in the back end before I lay down my verdict.
To "the Devil", if you read the article than you should know that it was several individual managers that approved her religious holiday leave over a six year period and they held the same managerial position as the person that disaproved and fired her. All managers involved were representative of the company and therefore accountable for their individual actions as is the company. B&BW's as a whole probably didn't even know of her religious beliefs, however, they did hire the managers and placed them in a position of authority. Ultimately they are responsible for the actions of the people they hire and trust to represent their company and its policies. I am sure at this point B&BWs knows all about the situation and hopefully will fire the manager in question. If they do the lawful and responsible thing and make Ms. Uberti whole then there will be no need for a boycott.
To "the Devil", if you read the article than you should know that it was several individual managers that approved her religious holiday leave over a six year period and they held the same managerial position as the person that disaproved and fired her. All managers involved were representative of the company and therefore accountable for their individual actions as is the company. B&BW's as a whole probably didn't even know of her religious beliefs, however, they did hire the managers and placed them in a position of authority. Ultimately they are responsible for the actions of the people they hire and trust to represent their company and its policies. I am sure at this point B&BWs knows all about the situation and hopefully will fire the manager in question. If they do the lawful and responsible thing and make Ms. Uberti whole then there will be no need for a boycott.
i believe that this disgusting exhibition should be punished by the company as a whole. perhaps that would help teach tolerance for others. however, like some, i think that a boycott at this stage is premature. perhaps someone should have caught on earlier to the hate and bigotry that this person promoted, after all, as a customer service professional, you are expected to deal with a myriad of customers of varying socioeconomic, ethnic, and - yes - religious backgrounds. however, i do doubt that one of the company's questions to their prospective employee is "do you support those that practice witchcraft/wicca/paganism/etc..." no, this does not excuse this shameful behavior but, to be kind, should we not give the company a chance to rectify this situation before making a decision? hopefully they will show that they, unlike their employee, are more tolerant and decent.
I am a Christian who has many Wiccan friends. The manager who fired the woman obviously didn't do their homework about the Wiccan religion, not to mention it's none of her business what she does on her vacation. If this woman had been fired for being a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, I'm sure the company would have terminated the firing manager's employment. As for the idea that B&BW shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of the firing manager, I can tell you that scope of employment applies here. The firing manager is acting as a representative of the entire company, and therefore "deep pockets" applies. If a delivery driver hits your car, you'd sue the company, not the driver, because the driver is acting as an agent for the comoany for which he is employed, and you're not going to get any money out of the driver anyway.
I emailed the company about this and told them that as a pagan consumer I would be choosing not to shop there until they did something about it. The reply came back that B&BW does not discriminate, but that they could not comment on pending litigation. If this offends you put your money where your mouth is and dont shop there, but also email their corporate headquarters and tell them that you are boycotting them and why. It is the response of consumers that will dictate how quick and appropriate their response is.
I am a Christian who has many Wiccan friends. The manager who fired the woman obviously didn't do their homework about the Wiccan religion, not to mention it's none of her business what she does on her vacation. If this woman had been fired for being a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, I'm sure the company would have terminated the firing manager's employment. As for the idea that B&BW shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of the firing manager, I can tell you that scope of employment applies here. The firing manager is acting as a representative of the entire company, and therefore "deep pockets" applies. If a delivery driver hits your car, you'd sue the company, not the driver, because the driver is acting as an agent for the comoany for which he is employed, and you're not going to get any money out of the driver anyway.
I'm so disgusted by this that I emailed the company explaining that as a Christian I don't share the same narrow-minded, bigotted beliefs as this firing manager, and that not only would I no longer be doing business with them, I'll be encouraging everyone I know to do the same. Money where my mouth is indeed!!
Doesn't get much more wrong than that.
I was planning to do some holiday shopping there this year since my family members love the place, but until the company fires/penalizes the offending employee (I don't care if she was ignorant about the religion, she should have been trained, in her managerial position, that this was very against the rules) & fix the situation, I'll be doing business elsewhere & urging my friends/family to do the same. I know it's not the fault of the entire company for the actions of this one person, but this is exactly why sensitivity training is so strongly urged at most "ethical" companies. The employee - especially a manager - speaks for the company. Ignorance alone is reason to boycott.
On the other hand, if Bath & Body Works rectifies this situation QUICKLY (fire offender, rehire employee) then it could actually help their rep, showing they care enough to take swift action. I hope they right this wrong quickly!
US law states that a company can discriminate in the act of hiring OR firing based on an applicants'/employee's religious beliefs.
I am Pagan and am sorrow to have to correct the manager in question of B&BW - Satan, Lucifer, Belzebuub, the Devil, Diablo, whatever you refer to "him" as, is not a deity of Pagan origins but of Judaism and the other Christian rooted religions in our world today.
I wholeheartedly agree with Katerina. Listen. Learn. If one person would take these steps, misunderstandings wouldn't occur.
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