To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

It’s pretty common for team meetings to have some kind of ‘pause for thought’ type section. I've never heard of that at all @ScaryM0nster , and I am OLD.. :D but i suppose it depends on industry etc, though I have been in a few.

It’s pretty common for team meetings to have some kind of ‘pause for thought’ type section.

In the same vein some radio shows do.

I see no problem with it as long as active participation is optional. It’s no skin off anyone’s nose to quietly observe a short period of meditation, or prayer, or thanks, or person sharing their xperience of how in this particularly cold snap you need to be careful with using screen wash as it might freeze on the windscreen and make things worse (last memory from a uk/us team meeting when Houston briefly got sub zero).

Well, indeed. We all work with piss takers. Right now I'm posting on MN when I have something else I could be doing, so maybe I'm one of them! For this colleague it was her prayer breaks. ACAS do point out it's easy to create resentment with any adaptations provided for anyone so employers really should think about how they handle this, but that's a step beyond for many.

Personally as a lifelong non-smoker, the early part of my career was definitely spent seething at quite how much time it seemed to be acceptable to spend outside having regular fag breaks through the day.

Last two places I worked at had a room set aside for personal contemplation. Some Muslim colleagues used it for prayer. Some "couldn't be bothered with all that nonsense". One place - where the CEO was Muslim (and never used it, but did record podcasts what seemed 5 times a day 😀) - insisted people made up the time.

Life - what a rich tapestry.

Question all as too their ways, and learn the secrets that they hold

If prayer is agreed go on mute and video off until it’s finished. Take 5mins to relax.

The 'what's the harm in it' people are dangerous. They can't see boundaries. What's the harm in men in women's loos? What's the harm of men in women's sports? There's no end to the harmful things they can't see any harm in.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. We worked flexibly but as I sat next to her, I know that she wasn’t making up the time. She began and left at about the same time as everyone else and I saw no evidence that she was making it up at home, either. It was a few years ago now, so water under the bridge, but I still get annoyed to this day that she was basically given a third of the working week off to pray. She also refused to attend any events during Ramadan if there was the possibility of food of any sort being served (which was the norm), although networking was a huge part of her job. It wasn’t her religion, it was just her using it as an excuse to dodge work (she was absolutely bone idle when she was at work anyway).

You could just pray for Trump to die and/ or for the eyes of the American people to be opened, for them to be released from their blindness. Amen.

The fact that you're spending time and effort commenting on something despite how unimportant you say you consider it. Objecting to things isn't a marker of having a 'carefree life', I think that's a very odd perspective.

Oh hilarity 🙄

ACAS guidance states that when an employee is taking time to pray during the day, agreed with their employer, they should be making the time up elsewhere. Also that the arrangement should be made in a way that does not create unfairness with other colleagues. So it sounds like your employer wasn’t flexing as much muscle as it should.

Imo She should cover lost hours by working late or coming in early...

What if the whole team decided to do that.

Personally, I think it’s totally inappropriate. This is a religious (and possibly political) act during work’s time. On the other hand, I’d be interested to know what you all think about a colleague I had a few years ago. She was given time to pray every day (large hospital site so there was a dedicated prayer room). This was quite a walk away, so she would be away from her desk for well over an hour each day, and on Fridays, she was barely at her desk at all. She was not expected to take flexi to cover this. I would estimate that she was at prayer at least 12 hours of the working week. I found this really unfair but didn’t raise it because, you know. What are your thoughts here?

Good result OP

You're right, in the specific scenario you gave. However, this particular circumstance isn't someone going about their individual religious business in your vicinity - it's someone wanting to force others to be party to their individual beliefs.

One person's right to religious freedom does not supersede another person's right to religious freedom - including the right to not have it actively inflicted on them.

If the colleague wants to pray alone in the office, she can crack on. What she can't do is inflict it on others - for example as part of a group meeting.

I noticed you used the word panties, which is a very American word, in which case you may have a different view culturally, but this absolutely would contravene the OP's right to religious freedom in the UK.

I'm a Christian. Forcing someone else to participate in your beliefs is not ok.

I think it would be reasonable for A to prey herself before the meeting starts. If others would like to prêt may y give it a minute at the start but no one should be forced to participate. Just sit there silently and don't say amen

There shouldn’t be a prayer item during a work meeting in the first place.

You can mix these up with exclamations of "Allahu Akhbar!", "Satan, have pity on my long despair!", "Ramen 🙏" and "I believe in fairies" 😂

Like fuck
Would I sit there while someone thanks God for Trump the orange one for MAGA

Maybe they just didn’t want to listen to a bunch of tone-deaf, drunk people singing loudly?! Especially if it was being held somewhere there might be other people. 🙉