Car rental company Hertz suspended 34 Muslim shuttle drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday because the drivers were not clocking out to pray, the Seattle Times reported.

Observant Muslims are required to pray five times a day.

A spokesman for the local Teamsters union, which represents the 34 suspended workers, all Somali Muslims, said the drivers had two 10-minute breaks in their shifts during which they could pray. The union officials said they had agreed with Hertz in negotiations that the workers would not have to clock out to pray, although their contract does not address the issue directly, according to the Times.

But Hertz said the drivers were required to clock out for prayer under the terms of a settlement the company reached two years ago with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and that all the suspended drivers had been told repeatedly they needed to clock out but had failed to do so.

The company pointed out it was not a compensation matter -- the drivers are paid for their break time -- but as a way to make sure they were sticking to a ten-minute time limit, which it said has been a problem.
'We felt it was reasonable for our Muslim employees who need to pray a couple times during the workday to clock in and clock out,' said Rich Broome, a Hertz spokesman.

Broome added that Muslim workers who had complied with the rule were not suspended. A spokesman for Teamsters Local 117 said the union was trying to get the drivers reinstated





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