RSS
Home
Religion in the workplace: the Christian's side of the discrimination story
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
photo found at salon.com
After speaking with Amanda Donaldson (in part one) I decided the only fair thing to do would be to contact Dr. Scott Dawson of Eldorado Chiropractic and get his side of the story. I wrote down his words during our conversation.
I called his place of business leaving a message with the woman who answered the phone including my name, title and number. In about five minutes he called back and I let him know I was hoping to talk with him about a former employee. He asked if it was Amanda and when I said, “yes” he immediately began to defend himself before I could ask a question or get another word in.
He started off saying “I didn’t fire her,” “she stormed out,” “it certainly was not about religion,” “they’re trying to hurt me,” “it’s all a fabrication,” rewording and repeating himself often until I could stop him and let him know I wasn’t calling to accuse him of anything or pick at him, I was calling to get his side of the story to try and find out where the truth lies.
When I asked him about Amanda’s performance he said, “She was good, but defensive when I would correct her work.” He stated that he thought this situation was a “simple misunderstanding” due to “poor communication.”
He claimed Amanda’s “attitude wasn’t good” and said, “her head’s not right.” When I asked him just what that meant he said, “Her mind wasn’t on her job.” When I asked him if he thought she might have been distracted due to her situation dealing with cancer he said, “I don’t know, maybe.”
When I asked Amanda if her situation distracted her at work she said, “No, my work was more intense and organized due to my situation, it helped me not to focus on the cancer, an escape kind of.”
He said that Amanda and her husband are just “bitter and angry” and stated that he thinks none of this would be happening if it weren’t for her husband’s influence. He claimed that he always knew Amanda to be a “woman of God” and that the idea she is an atheist was “new” to him. He said, “They were damaged before they met me,” because they had “hatred for the world.”
I asked Amanda if she humored the idea that she was a Christian while working there and she said, "No, I respected his belief but never humored the idea I was a Christian."
He further claimed, “Amanda prayed with me and the patients.” When I asked her about this she said that the only time something of this sort happened was when Dawson and the patients would pray over her and for her in regard to her cancer, but that she never actually participated other than allowing it to happen out of respect for his office.
Eventually Dr. Dawson mentioned not being happy with what Amanda’s husband was writing. When I asked him what he was referring to he said, “I found a blog 6-8 weeks ago. I wasn’t happy about the negativity in it and was afraid patients would be deterred. Amanda said she was keeping it ‘out of here’ but I didn’t want negative stuff associated with the office.”
He went on to make two other statements that are very important to Amanda’s story. He said, “It’s a Christ-oriented office, they (meaning employees) need to be on the same page I am.”
I asked if the orientation of the office meant he only treated certain people and he said, “No, I treat anyone, but I’m a person of faith, connected to God, and I’ll hire anyone who is qualified.” However, he then immediately added, “but I do not want to hire anyone with a different world view.”
Dr. Dawson often repeated that he wanted "it to all go away."
To be honest it was difficult for me to get a direct answer from Dr. Dawson and he stuttered often on his words. He went on to say he wishes Amanda the best and claimed he did everything he could to help her by holding her position while she was gone for surgery and providing a positive environment for her to work in.
My analysis is that his words matched up with Amanda’s story and his immediate exploding defensiveness says something about his claims. He couldn’t keep his story straight from one sentence to the next, yet the three times I’ve talked with Amanda via email and phone her story is always the exact same.
Related Articles:
Comments
