MTA Jewish Worker Asked to Prove He Observes Rosh Hashanah to Get Time Off
by Shiryn Ghermezian
An Orthodox Jewish MTA transit worker was ordered to prove he celebrated Rosh Hashanah for “a religious reason” in order for him to get the holiday off, union officials said on Friday.
The MTA had granted Schaeffer the holiday off in previous years without any issues and the MTA worker followed regulations by asking for the time off three weeks in advance, according to the union
. A supervisor told the union that this year there were “many employees who request to have days off for religious observance and are not granted due to the slots being full, and the high need for personnel. So in order to try to accommodate the employee’s and be fair, I am requesting documentation.”
The kind of documentation Schaeffer needed was not specified, the union said.