North America

3 Adventists sue U.S. baseball team over religious observances

Ushers fired following work policy changes

Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | ANN staff

Three Seventh-day Adventists have filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against the Washington Nationals, a professional baseball team in Washington D.C. 

The lawsuit accuses the baseball club of firing Tony Green, Lloyd Cobey and Ralph Jones due to their refusal to work on Sabbath, which lasts from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. 

The former ushers, all retired federal employees, claim that while the baseball club made accommodation for them up to the team’s 2013 season, the Nationals changed their policies for the 2014 season. The new policies forced all employees to work at least 80 percent of the home games. The men, however, could not work the amount of games required because of their Sabbath observance. As a result, the men were fired.

The suit against the Nationals claims, “All three plaintiffs performed their jobs well, and regularly received praise from their supervisors regarding the services they provided to the spectators at National Park.” 

The men are asking to be allowed to return to work and for the Nationals to provide reasonable accommodation for their religious beliefs, along with back pay and damages. 

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