About a year ago, I reported on a University of Nebraska employee who was allegedly fired for being a Witch. “Jane Doe”, who is a member of Reclaiming, claimed that once her superior found out about her religious beliefs she was fired and replaced by a non-Pagan. Now, the Journal Star reports that the University has settled the case, though they still won’t admit that her claims of discrimination have any validity.

“A woman who sued the University of Nebraska saying the school fired her after learning she is a witch has agreed to settle the case for $40,000. The university made the offer “solely to compromise the claim … without admitting the validity of plaintiff’s contention or any allegations of wrongdoing by the defendants,” attorney David Buntain said in an October letter.”

The University very likely settled because the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission had already ruled that Ms Doe’s rights were violated in the run-up to the lawsuit. So rather than potentially lose a lawsuit, and gain lots of unwanted attention in the press, they settle. Better a lump sum than humble pie. A trend we may well see repeated in the Bath & Body Works and Google firings.

Thanks to Religion Clause for the tip-off on this story.

“The lawsuit, filed by a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe, states that she was hired in February 2007 and was satisfactory in her performance. But once her employer discovered she was a witch, the lawsuit says the “plaintiff was terminated from her position, and was replaced by a non-witch.“ The woman says in the lawsuit that she’s using a pseudonym to protect herself and her family from potential discrimination from the public or other employers. The lawsuit says, ‘Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft is her religion.’”

As I said in my initial post on this matter, this looks like a legit grievance. The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission has ruled that Ms Doe’s rights were violated, and I can’t imagine them backing her claims lightly. I’ll post more on this issue as it develops.
]]> http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2008/12/update-university-of-nebraska-is-anti.html/feed 2 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2008/12/university-of-nebraska-is-anti-pagan.html http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2008/12/university-of-nebraska-is-anti-pagan.html#comments Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:51:00 +0000 Jason Pitzl-Waters http://patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2008/12/university-of-nebraska-is-anti-pagan.html Looks like the University of Nebraska is going to be facing some bad publicity in the coming months. A resident of Lincoln Nebraska has filed a lawsuit against the university for allegedly firing her for being a Pagan.

“The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe. The filing says the woman, who practices witchcraft as her religion, was hired by the university in February 2007 to direct a youth program. She was fired when it was discovered that she was a witch.”

Obviously some are going to be skeptical, what if she was simply fired for poor performance or incompetence? But according to the scant information provided so far, it looks like “Jane Doe” may have a substantial case here.

“The woman has already filed a complaint with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, which ruled that her rights were violated because of religion discrimination.”

If the NEOC says she has a case, then I very much doubt this is a frivolous action. Now if only we could get some more information. If any Nebraskan Pagans know any background information on this case (that doesn’t compromise the identity of “Jane Doe”), feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post.
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