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.

Is it part of the job role or just an add on?

Out of interest, at interview stage, did she object to taking Christmas Day off?
Does your company send out cards for celebrations such as Eid, Hanukkah, Diwali etc?
I can see both sides. It could be a really interesting conversation, albeit it not one to get your cards sent out

Not usually in the U.K.
Muslims either swear on the Quran or verbally affirm in the names or attributes of God (Allah).

No, she shouldn't be allowed to offload her work onto others, who presumably have their own jobs to do.

I would suggest that a general Seasons Greetings card would be fine. I wish Happy New Year cards would catch on more as I'd like to send them myself, instead of fitting in Christmas cards during the pre-holiday rush.

Of course it's not unreasonable to ask an admin assistant to do such a task.
I'm pagan, and I'd do it, (even though it's a festival annexed from us.😈)

I may have misunderstood. The OP
“The person in her role has done it previously but it wasn't her last year.”

The new Muslim employee could not have done it last year, so it’s not talking about her.

I read this sentence as talking about the previous employee in the role has done the task previously, but she did not do it last year. So an unknown “her” a third employee must have done it last year. Which means this task isn’t always assigned to that admin assistant role.

I hate these threads, they make Muslims look like intolerant idiots when in my vast experience, they're usually anything but.

Won't be long before Facebook groups are full of people claiming we can't say 'Merry Christmas' anymore 🙄🙄

I have yet in all my 50+ years to meet a Muslim in this country who is offended by Christmas or anything to do with Christmas.

There is one admin assistant. The admin assistant always does the job.

Last year this Muslim colleague was not the admin assistant. Someone else was. Now she has left and the Muslim colleague is the admin assistant.

The unknown "her" is the Muslim woman.

Our Muslim neighbours absolutely hate Halloween. So what. So do I.

It's not relevant to someone performing a fairly generic admin task in a work environment where some degree of professionalism is required.

From How Should an Employer Accommodate Religion in the Workplace in England and Wales?

”6. Be Sensitive When Allocating Work DutiesSome workplace duties may not suit staff due to their religion or belief. Likewise, a good employer will think about this before allocating where possible. If a staff member asks not to carry out a duty, you should consider this request where possible.”
https://legalvision.co.uk/employment/religion-in-the-workplace/

How do you know there is only one admin assistant? Not to be funny, but I have four?

See “There's an admin assistant and then the client facing staff and directors.”
One of my admin assistants is client facing (receptionist), the rest are not? So this isn’t clear to me either.

I interpreted it as "the person in the role has done the cards in the past, but last year the person in the role was not the current employee in the role."

Not that there was a third party doing the cards last year.

@RebekaTuwin yes, we've interpreted that differently but your version of another person being available doesn't strike me from any OP posts.

YABU
Instead of having a conversation with your colleague to understand what aspects of this task they are uncomfortable with, you start a thread on Mumsnet.

You then reveal that you've asked a Muslim person, who is also new to your organisation to pick cards in terms of the image and the message. YABVVU

I suggest you pick the cards in terms of the image and message and delegate the task of stuffing envelopes to your colleague. The laborious part of this project is stuffing the envelopes. You've completely blown this out of proportion.

Because OP has said so?

in my 25 years of working in a crown court I have never seen one Muslim aware on the Q’uaran. I have asked several why they don’t and they say the bible is a sacred book to them.

Where? I’ve read all the posts and…not clear that there is only person who can be assigned the task.

Odd. It’s quite clear it’s standard practice in an English court per Hajj Ahmad Thomson, a barrister who is head of Wynne Chambers, and Deputy Chairman of the Association of Muslim Lawyers.
On page 6 of his FAQ on the practice he states as much (see screenshot).
https://www.wynnechambers.co.uk/pdf/Swearing_an_Oath.pdf

Absolutely unreasonable. Am not Christian either and would be happy to do this.

Sending them out to clients, fine. But this is lots of involvement so I get why she said no kind of.

There were number of fatwas going either way on Christmas greetings exchange. Iirc Muslim World League did let out that exchange is permissable so not haram

I meant unreasonable of her to refuse!

I may have the wrong end of the stick. Regardless, the OP should try and accommodate the request as it is based on the religious beliefs of her employee. Practices of Islam are as varied as Judiaism and Christianity, even before we take into account personal levels of religious adherence, so we cannot say that because other Muslims do it, then she is unreasonable.

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

AN admin assistant. That's singular.

It is in the admin assistant's remit. Not to add to someone else's because the admin assistant doesn't fancy it.

I feel like a lot of people are missing that point that not all people practice religions in the same way. As a Christian I have no issue celebrating Halloween or drinking or doing yoga. But there are lots of Christians who would see each of those as something they cannot do due to their faith. Each person should be afforded room to practice their faith as they see fit. So while there may be Muslims who wouldn't mind doing this particular task, the point is that this particular individual feels its something she can't in good conscience do in how she practices her own personal faith. And there is nothing wrong with that.