Madison, USA - An appeals court ordered state labor officials Thursday to reconsider forcing a Muslim woman to repay unemployment benefits after she turned down work so she could make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
The 4th District Court of Appeals reversed a finding by the state Labor and Industry Review Commission, which ruled Salwa Rashad didn't have to undertake the hajj immediately and could have accepted work. All able-bodied Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetimes if they can afford it.
The court ordered the commission to reconsider its ruling in light of the First Amendment, which protects freedom of religion.
At stake for Rashad are unemployment benefits. She isn't eligible for them if she turns down a job without good cause.
The case began in December 2002, when Rashad was working as a part-time instructor at Madison Area Technical College.
According to the labor commission's decision, the school offered Rashad another part-time teaching position for the spring 2003 semester. But Rashad told the school she planned to make a three-to-five week trip to Mecca then. She offered to find a substitute while she was gone, but the school gave the job to someone else.
Rashad testified before the labor commission that she must make a trip to Mecca at least once in her life if she can, and she must make it during a specific time, which in 2003 fell in late January and early February.
The commission found Rashad was not required to make the trip in 2003, so she had to pay back $3,750 in unemployment benefits.
Rashad appealed in Dane County Circuit Court. She argued she didn't reject the job and her faith dictates she must make the hajj when she is able. The first time she could afford to go was in the spring of 2003, she said.
But Judge Patrick Fiedler affirmed the commission's findings. He ruled the commission's decision created a religious hardship for Rashad, but there was no evidence showing she had to make the trip that semester.
What's more, according to the circuit court ruling, Rashad planned to visit a son in Egypt during the trip. Fiedler ruled that finding in Rashad's favor could invite more claims that mix religious requirements and personal purposes.
Rashad went to the appeals court. She insisted she must make the trip as soon as she is able and the labor commission's decision violates the First Amendment.
The commission countered it wasn't disputing the religious need for the hajj, but rather Rashad's testimony that 2003 was the first time she could do it and whether the trip was truly for a religious purpose.
The commission added Rashad lost the right to raise constitutional issues because she didn't bring the arguments before the panel.
The appeals court ruled the labor commission has produced no evidence to support the finding Rashad didn't have to go in 2003. The court remanded the case to the commission.
The court ordered the commission to consider constitutional conflicts and clarify Rashad's potential personal motivations for making the trip or refusing the job offer.
Rashad's attorney, Michele Peters, and the Labor and Industry Review Commission both declined to comment.