To ask a Muslim admin assistant to organise Christams cards

[Goodfrock]

We're a small PR company who sends out lots of Christmas cards. Whether this is worthwhile is up for debate, but the decision has been taken that it will continue for this year at least.

The admin assistant to whom this task falls is a newly appointed Muslim woman I.e
The person in her role has done it previously but it wasn't her last year.

She's not comfortable organising the cards. Was it an unreasonable request? This is very much a genuine question. I'm kicking myself for being insensitive at the same time as thinking it would be daft to get someone more senior to do it.

Why surely? It's a small company. There's an admin assistant and then the client facing staff and directors.

Someone more senior - or that knows the organisation better and does not have religious objections should do the selection bit.
The shoving the cards in envelopes and sticking label on the envelope - Admin task

I frankly think this Poster is being entirely disingenuous and highly doubt this happened.

Have a look at OP’s drip feed update and you’ll have your answer

It's absurd and she shouldn't be allowed to spurn this task, which is a typical one for admin/clerks around the globe.

Pick out a card, order it and let her stuff the envelopes, etc.

For the record, my devout Muslim neighbours just took down their Halloween decor and already have Rudolph the Reindeer next to their front porch. They love holidays of all sorts.

I agree with pp - compromise by getting someone else to choose them and then she can address and post them.

It might not be an outraged stance about handling cards for a Christian celebration, but not really knowing which ones would be most suitable for your business and not wanting to get it wrong.

I said she'd been asked to "organise" cards. There might be some room for interpretation in what that means, but it's in no way a "bloody" dripfeed.

If mailshots are part of her job then no. Not unreasonable. It might be different if you were personally asking her to sign them all from herself but it is on behalf of the company and part of the role.

This is such blatant BS. Just an excuse to stir up some Islamophobia.

I think she's being unreasonable to completely refuse BUT...I do think it's a task that she might feel uncomfortable being completely responsible for if she has no background in Christmas whatsoever. Without realising it, this sort of task requires a certain base level of understanding and comfort with Christmas and Christmas traditions, that she might not have.

I have Jewish and Muslim colleagues, friends and family members. One of the things I often find is that if I want to send them an appropriate greeting, I always feel a bit nervous about whether I'm getting it right. google is, of course, my friend in this situation, but I can see how at a corporate level it may be something that is tricky as she will not have a frame of reference.

Similarly, I would be uncomfortable being asked to organise a passover meal for Jewish clients or an Eid celebration for Muslim clients, without quite significant input.

It's an admin task - she's admin so its her job to do it. She's being UR.

You need to get to the root of what is making her uncomfortable?
For example, she shouldn't have to choose the card design. That can be given to someone else very easily.
She may not wish to sign the cards on behalf of the company as that may feel odd. But she could organise batches of, say, 20 cards and distribute to other employees with instructions on what to put as a message and hand these out and collect them by a certain date.
She probably would not object to putting cards in envelopes and printing labels and that is just an admin task just as if you were sending out a "we are 5 years old today at PR company" message.

Muslims swear on a Christian bible in court as they believe Jesus was a prophet- he is revered in their culture and Mary - Jesus’ mother has a whole chapter in the Q’uran.

It seems to me she is making excuses.

I can see that she might be ‘uncomfortable’ as in not know what is appropriate for the selection of card images and messages for something she has never celebrated. If you choose them would that solve the problem? She just orders and sends.

It's not a religious observance she's being asked to do. It's part of the company's broader client outreach.

She's being unreasonable, particularly if the cards you're sending are secular in design, but even if the feature traditional motifs like Manger scenes, angels, etc, they're still a completely secular tradition.

Could your company find a way to mark what is known in the US as "the holidays" or "the holiday season"? Perhaps some of your clients celebrate Diwali or Hanukkah or just the New Year? It might be a good idea to not restrict yourselves to Christmas greetings.

Unless you're sending out religious themed cards you're not being unreasonable. Otherwise non Christian retail and hospitality workers wouldn't work during the Christmas period when it's all Christmas lunches and Christmas tatt decorations and gifts.

Islam isn’t like the other religions mentioned on this thread. It specicifically makes celebrating other religious festivals haraam and the sending of Christmas cards is one of those things. If you’re sending them to Muslims they’ll binned at best, at worst they’ll feel like your company isn’t for them. If this is a marketing opportunity you should rename them Seasons Greetings cards and send them with generic wishes for the entire holiday period.

Surely there's a simple compromise that doesn't put too much on any one person. OP you choose the design and specify the message. She then deals with the rest because after that it is purely admin.

She's totally unreasonable- lots of people get asked to do stuff as part of their job that's outside of their religious beliefs

Our Muslim friends send Christmas cards - and we send good wishes and sweets for Eid Al-Fitr. It hurts no one - quite the opposite. Good luck with that new worker OP.

I think making a vegetarian person work in an abattoir was cruel though. Abattoirs do hurt animals so it’s not remotely the same.

The admin assistant to whom this task falls is a newly appointed Muslim woman I.e The person in her role has done it previously but it wasn't her last year.

I think on this basis, YABU as it appears that this task hasn’t always fallen to the same admin assistant every year. It was alright to ask, but I don’t think it is reasonable to refuse to use your flexibility to assign to a different admin person which has been done in the past, and after being requested to use it by an employee of a different religion. It isn’t a case of this employee is the only admin assistant or only employee that could do the cards.

She is not being unreasonable to ask you to assign a religiously oriented task to a different admin assistant. It’s religious accommodation and you don’t have the defence of only she can do the task.

@RebekaTuwin I think you might have misunderstood?

or have I?

I thought the current person in post was not at the firm last year? So her predecessor did it?

A Jewish admin assistance could refuse to pop out and buy bacon sandwiches for a client lunch, as another example.

Could they though? I'm Jewish and I'm sure there nothing in Halacha (Jewish law) that prevents a Jew from procuring non-kosher food for others.

YANBU but I would be carful with her looking to pull a discrimination case on you

That sounds fun, I’ll apply, as long as I’m allowed to eat the bacon!

( people like you lift the spirits in hope for better times to come, Cookie Monster 💐)