The Sabbath & Prison Employment

[Gregory Matthews]

A devout SDA wants to be hired as a Correctional Officer at a California Prison, and to be free of duty on the Sabbath.  Should she be accommodated?

See:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/California-must-honor-its-commitment-to-religious-11197155.php

My comments:

*  If this case is being tried under California law, I do not have enough knowledge to know what her legal rights may be.

*  If this case if  being tried under Federal law, I believe that there is a strong likelihood that she will lose her lawsuit.

*  I have some close knowledge of the California prison system and how it operates.  Every so often (I believe it is every 3 years) the Correctional Officers may compete for a position.  That position will have specified hours and days to be worked.  They will not be normally required to work outside of those hours, but, they may do so voluntarily.  Therefore, I will suggest that there may be a system that could be used to accommodate her.    E.G.  I personally know a California Prison Correctional Officer who has a job that requires him to work Wednesday through Sunday.  He has Monday and Tuesday off.  The only times he is required to work outside of those hours is when he is taking training which is always Monday through Friday.

  NOTE:  He is not a SDA.

 

[Guest TBH]

Somebody's got to work on Saturdays. I just don't understand why some SDAs believe they should be exempt from working while they continue to use goods and services that are produced by others who must work Saturdays. For example, using the Internet or wi-fi on Sabbath; driving on city streets; using the telephone; going out to eat; using electricity; relying on emergency services and army forces. It is hypocritical, in my opinion. 

[Gregory Matthews]

In her present position at the prison, she may (?) be working on the Sabbath.  That point is not clear. 

[Gregory Matthews]

I can immagine thaht there may be some who would argue that it is acceptable for trained medical care personnel, such as she is, to work on the Sabbath, but that Correctional Officers (prison guards) do not require that level fo training and therefore that posistion can be filloed by just about any person who is in good physical health.

Keep in mind:  A prison Correctional Officer (CO) faces situaiton in which a prisonor may be in that sights of a weapon and the CO must decide whether to fire a leathal round that has the potential to kill or to fire a non-leathal round, or to not fire at all.  That level of decision making requires extensive training that all must undergo.  It is not true that just anyone can be a Correctional Officer.

[Guest TBH]

Regardless of training, skills or job requirements, it is hypocritical of all SDAs who refuse to work Sabbaths and yet continue to use non-essential goods and services provided by others who do work Sabbath hours. 

[CoAspen]

I believe there are sincere people who simple don't understand what 'working on the sabbath' was all about in Biblical times and God was saying when the word 'remember'  was used. We often try to use the words essential and non-essential in arguments. What may not seem essential  for me could be essential for another person. There were times in my past employment history where I simply did not apply or not accept the position that required sabbath work. it was a personal decision and I would never try to make an employer accommodate my desires. I believe the 'sabbath' commandment can often be used/abused for personal desires. 

Just my opinion and not meant to apply to others.

[Gregory Matthews]

oIt should be understood that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation currently has Seventh-day Adventist members, who are Correctional Officers (Prison Guards) working for it.   These SDA members are either people who believe that it is necessary to provide care and supervision of convicted felons on the Sabbath, or who have been able to arrange to work in a position that does not require them to personally work on the Sabbath. 

It appears to me that she has not been admitted to the training program that she must attend before she can become a Correctional Officer.  This training would be conducted at the Richard A. McGee Correctional Training Center in Galt, California.  The basic course for new Correctional Officers is a 16 week course.  It is conducted Monday through Friday.  Housing is provided for students who come from far distances.  But, most students commute on a daily basis to their homes.

Following graduation from that school the new Correctional Officers are assigned to prisons, throughout California.  This is according to the needs of California.  A Student may refuse an assignment.  But refusals may result in a graduate not being assigned to any prison for a year, after which they may be given another potential assignment, again at the will of California. 

In actual practice, she would likely be assigned to a prison different from the one where she is now employed, unless the prison that now employees her put in a special request that she be assigned to that prison after her graduation.

California prisons must operate 7-days a week.  The individual jobs each have a specific assignment of five days--e.g., one position might be Sunday through Thursday, while another might be Tuesday through Saturday.  It should be noted that as the prison operates 24 hours a day, every position has the hours as well as the days that it operates.

The initial assignment of the new Correctional Officer is at the will of the prison.  Every three years, Correctional Officers may compete for a  new positon under rules in effect as to how the decision should be made.  In addition, a Correctional Officer may compete outside of that three year period for a position that has come open.

I can respect her convictions as to Sabbath observance and her refusal to violate them.  However, it appears that she has taken a positon that means that she can not be employed in the position of Correctional Officer.  In such a case, it just may be that she continue employment in her current positon where she does not seem to face issues that violate her convictions.

I also would wish that some pastor would spend time with her in helping her to think through the Biblical standards related to Sabbath keeping and the necessity of caring for and supervising prisoners on the Sabbath.

 

 

 

[B/W Photodude]

Given that hospital workers must care for patients even on the Sabbath, even Adventist institutions
have people who have to work on the Sabbath. The patients cannot just disconnect from medical
machinary on Fri eve and come back after Sabbath.

Likewise, you can't just send everyone home from prison on Friday evening and think they will
voluntarily return after the Sabbath! So, they have to be "cared for."

This person may just have to do her "dues" and after in her job, she may be able to schedule around
Sabbath. When I worked in an Adventist hospital, every other Sabbath on the job was mandatory. When
not in an Adventist hospital, where we had self scheduling, I could usually get away with only
working ONE Sabbath a YEAR. More people wanted Sunday off than Saturday. For Sabbaths off (I started
to say "Sabbath keeping", but you can even keep Sabbath when in a necessary position!) I was in a
much better position to be off in a non-Adventist medical center.

However, we frequently would get prisoners and their accompanying guards in the ICU. They are a
different group. There exists within nursing what they call grand theories of nursing. One I
followed and studied was by an nurse named Dorothy Orem, who created the self-care deficit nursing
theory, also known as the Orem model of nursing. All these theories had weaknesses, but her theory
stood the test of research better than any others, but failed in one place ... with prisoners.
Prisoners seemed to have it down that they are not their own, but property of the state. Probably
more so than soldiers!

This theory simply states that when people are not able to care for or answer for themselves, their
nurse becomes their care agent. Subsets occur when parents of babies cannot manage care of their
child, the nurse is there for them. Prisoners are one group that cannot independently manage their
lives while incarcerated (thus the theory runs into a problem!). There are a wide variety of other
roles in society where one has another act for them.

So, Sabbath work is a necessary part of corrections work, prisoners are also a group to be witnessed
to, and they are not forgotten when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. One thing I have
always enjoyed reading was EGWs writings of speaking to the prisoners in the Oregon State
Penitentiary.

Hopefully, this person will be able to work thru her feelings of prison work and make a comfortable
decision.

[Gregory Matthews]

Due to a close relative, who is a Correctional Officer in a major California prison, and has worked there for years, I have some knowledge as to how the system works in California prisons:

*  Correctional Officers fill many positons in a prison.  Those positions may be on a cell block.  They may be in a tower.   They may be working in the medical clinic, in the place where they eat.  There are many other positons that may include direct contact with prisoners, or may not have direct contact with prisoners.  They may be as simple as remotely opening and closing doors.

*  These positions may all be maintained 24 hours a day and 7-days a week.

*  A Correctional Officer is assigned to a position, for a 5-day a week period, at a time of day that remains locked into that same schedule for a 3-year (typically) period of time.  Correctional Officers are not allowed to switch  with someone in another position and/or another time period.  IOW, a Correctional Officer who is assigned to the medical clinic can not switch with one who is in a tower.  In short, Correctional Officers do not make their own arrangements to be absent and their position filled by another person.

*  If for some reason, a Correctional Officer is not going to be able to work the normal shift. it is that prison that becomes responsible for filling that vacancy.  It does this by first determining who is not working who could properly fill that position.  It then contacts several of those available people and asks if any of them would like to earn extra money be working beyond their normal shift.  That may result in the Officer working a double shift, or in a situation where the shift is split in half, and two officers work an extra half shift.  It should be noted that the first offers will normally be given to the officers who are working before and/or after the vacant shift.  The assumption of the extra work is voluntary and no officer has to take extra  work.

*  It should also be noted that the officers may give  the prison advance notice of their willingness to work those extra times.   

*  This results in extra costs to the prison.  The person who did not work remains in a pay status, and others are paid for working that vacant shift.  such examples might include an officer who is required to testify at a trail and/or an officer who is taking required training or recertification of some job skil.  This will also include an officer who is teaching others some skill.  My relative  has bee away from his normal job on account of all of these.

*  As I said in an earlier post:  On an established 3-year cycle, all Correctional Officers compete for working in a different position, which may include a change in days and hours.

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

The following is the legal complaint that has been filed in this case, which I find of interest:

https://www-cdn.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/T.-Brown-Opposition-Draft-FINAL.pdf

[Gregory Matthews]

The  legal documents in this case may be accessed at the following URL and plugging in the following case number:   2015  # 00176321

https://services.saccourt.ca.gov/PublicCaseAccess/Civil/SearchByCaseNumber

This case is scheduled to go to trial in March of 2018 and the above site, as of today, contains a total of 173 documents that have been filed as part of the public record.

NOTE:  The above website provides documents for a fee.