A staff member there for 12 years before her May dismissal, Rehm claims that library officials refused to make an exception for her when they began requiring all staff to work Sundays as part of an expansion of service hours, despite having explained her religious convictions to her supervisor. Although the library declined comment because the complaint regards a personnel matter, Stuart Moser, who resigned as board president over Rehm’s dismissal, said in the October 29 St. Joseph News-Press, “I thought there was an exception that could have been made.”
The complaint will be reviewed by the Kansas City office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, a process that usually takes six months. Rehm’s attorney, Drew Gardner of the Christian Law Association, told the News-Press that she might file a federal lawsuit should the agencies rule against her.
Melissa Middleswart, who was also dismissed by the library this spring for refusing to work on Sundays on religious grounds, has not taken legal action.
Posted November 17, 2003.