Can I sue my manager for not giving me day off on my religious festival?
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Can I sue my manager for not giving me day off on my religious festival?
Asked on October 26, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
First, whether or not your manager did something wrong depends on the circumstances: if you did not request the day off sufficiently in advance; or if there was no one who could cover for you and your job had to be done that day; or if it was a very minor observance, then it's not clear that the manager necessarily did anything wrong. That's because the employer's obligation is to make "reasonable accomodations," which means that if you what you requested, under the circumstances, was unreasonable, there was no wrong done to you.
Even if a wrong was done to you, you can only recover damages in a lawsuit commensurate with the injury or loss you sustained--the law does not give large awards simply because you were wronged, but rather to compensate you for what you suffered. If all you missed was a single religious festival, then you suffered a very small injury by the law's standards, and would likely recover less money than the cost of the lawsuit.
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