Calendar
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
Church Ministries Convention
Date: Jan 19
Time: 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Topic: "Same Sex Marriage"
Speakers:
Alan J. Reinach, Esq. &
Lincoln Steed, Editor, Liberty Magazine
SACRAMENTO, CA
West Sacramento SDA
2860 Jefferson Blvd
Date: Jan 24
Time: 11:00am & 2:00pm
Speaker: Matt McMearty
LOS GATOS, CA
Los Gatos SDA
57 Broadway,
Date: Jan 24
Time: 11:00am & 2:00pm
Topics: "Proclaim Liberty
Throughout the Land" and
"Sex, Sin and Society: Gay Marriage and the Mark of the Beast "
Speaker:
Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA
Desert Hot Springs SDA
11-711 Palm Drive
Date: Jan 31
Time: 11:00am
Speaker: C. Norman Farley
ANGELS CAMP, CA
Angels Camp SDA
140 North Main Street
Date: Jan 31
Time: 11:00am
Speaker: Matt McMearty
LOS ANGELES, CA
University SDA
1135 West Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd.
Date: Feb 14
Time: 11:00am & 2:00pm
Speaker: Matt McMearty
FRESNO, CA
Fresno Central SDA
2980 E Yale Ave
"Prophecy, Marriage and Religious Liberty: Today’s Church/State Conflicts"
Dates: Feb 20 - 21
Times: 7:00pm (2/20)
9:30 am, 11:00am, & 2:00pm (2/21)
Speakers: Nick Miller, Esq & Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
FRESNO, CA
Fresno Central Valley
Phil-Am SDA
4867 E Fillmore Ave
Date: Feb 21
Time: 11:00am
Speaker: Matt McMearty
VISALIA, CA
Visalia SDA
1310 S Woodland St
Date: Feb 21
Time: 11:00am
Speaker:
Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
SACRAMENTO, CA
Sacramento State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
"Religious Liberty
Lobby Day and Training Seminar"
Date: April 20th
Register by Clicking Here
Guest Speakers include:
- Ivan Williams, Associate Chaplain of California Assembly, and Ministerial Director of Northern California Conference;
- Barry Bussey, General Conference Associate Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty;
- Alan Reinach, Esq., President, Church State Council;
- Matthew McMearty, Vice President, Church State Council
Freedom’s Ring
Radio Broadcast
Schedule
Ceremonial Prayer
Host
Alan J. Reinach, discusses a powerful prayer by Pastor Joe Wright
before the Kansas Senate the exception to the rule that ceremonial
prayer is vain repetition contrary to the teachings of Jesus.
Broadcast date:
Jan 3, 2009
Top 10 Religious Liberty Stories of 2008, Part I
Brent Walker , Esq.,
Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, discusses 2008 stories.
http://www.bjc.org/
Broadcast date:
Jan 10, 2009
Top 10 Religious Liberty Stories of 2008, Part II
Brent Walker , Esq.,
Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, discusses 2008 stories.
http://www.bjc.org/
Broadcast date:
Jan 17, 2009
New Director for Religious Liberty
Barry Bussey, Associate Director of Public Affairs & Religious Liberty,
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Broadcast date:
Jan 24, 2009
Religious Monuments in the Supreme Court
Casey Mattox, Litigation Counsel for the Center for Law & Religious Freedom of the Christian Legal Society
Broadcast date:
Jan 31, 2009
Proposition 8 [Gay Marriage] Postmortem Nicholas P. Miller, Esq.,
Executive Director, Andrews University International Religious Liberty Institute
Broadcast date:
Feb 7, 2009
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In
This
Issue... Volume 2, No. 1, January 2009
ACTION NEEDED!
Liberty Campaign Update
As I hope you realize, the annual offering for religious liberty this
year is taken up on the fourth Sabbath in January, the 24th. There was
a mix-up this year that has impacted the shipping of campaign materials
to the churches. Religious liberty leaders in California received their
materials earlier this month, as usual, but we are just now able to
ship materials to the churches. These include the brochures to be
passed out to the churches, known as “Liberty bonds.”
If you are a religious liberty leader in your church, please devote
your best efforts this month to promoting the annual offering. Given
the economy, there is a serious risk that offerings will fall off
dramatically. Those who are able to give should be encouraged to do so
generously, so that we may continue this vitally important ministry.
If you are not a religious liberty leader in your church, take the
initiative to find out who is, and let them know you are praying for
their successful efforts. Please join us in praying for the Liberty
campaign nationwide, so we can continue to advance the cause of
freedom. Remember: eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty.
Prayer List
The
secret to our success in helping church members with Sabbath
accommodation problems is prayer. We want to invite you to join us in
lifting up those whose cases are pending in court. Here in the five
states of the Pacific Union, the following individuals have cases
currently pending in either Federal or state court. Please pray for
their families as well as their attorneys:
- Willie Ellington - Price, UT
- Dennis Warner - Santa Rosa, CA
- Victor Woods - San Bernardino, CA
- Rocci Cantanzarite - Ione, CA
- James Lee - Sacramento, CA
- Anthony Okon - Angwin, CA
- Rebecca (for relief from harassment at work)
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Three Wins to Start the New Year!
It
always feels great to win. In this line of work, winning means helping
someone who has suffered religious discrimination at work get their job
back, or obtaining a settlement. As 2008 came to a close, and we began
2009, we have had three remarkable “wins” to report, a testimony to the
blessing of God upon our ministry. We give Him the glory! The first win
involves a billionaire, the second, a jury trial, and the third,
justice in a post office case!
Witnessing to a Billionaire
Forbes magazine includes Red Emerson among its list of billionaires. He
is the owner of Sierra Pacific Industries, a lumber company and one of
California’s largest landowners. Luciano Cortez is a Mexican born
immigrant to the United States, now a citizen, who began working at
Sierra Pacific in 2001. The next year, he began studying the Bible with
Seventh-day Adventists, and was baptized by Pastor Aroldo Novoa in
2002. As his faith grew, Luciano realized that it was God’s will for
him to observe the Sabbath. In early 2005, Luciano began to speak to
his plant manager about not working on Sabbath. The company quickly
relieved him of duty on occasional overtime Saturdays. But problems
arose when his scheduled shift rotated from days to evenings, and he
was required to work every Friday night.
Mr. Cortez and his pastor met with management to see whether an
accommodation could be found. Before the search could be completed, the
company fired him for not working a scheduled Friday night shift.
Thanks to the alertness of his pastor, Mr. Cortez was referred to the
Church State Council. The early intervention of Pastor Eliezer
Benavides helped to establish the foundation for a strong case of
religious discrimination.
Eventually, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit
charging Sierra Pacific Industries with both religious discrimination
and retaliation. Church State Council president, Alan Reinach,
represented Mr. Cortez as intervener in his own case. [Kind of like the
victim being allowed to intervene in a criminal case filed by the
state.]
After many months of hard fought litigation, the parties convened
mediation in Sacramento last December. To our surprise, Red Emerson
himself attended the mediation. He stayed until the negotiations were
concluded, which took nearly twelve hours!
As the mediation began, we had the opportunity to explain why we
thought Mr. Cortez had suffered discrimination, what we thought the
company had done wrong, and what we hoped the mediation would
accomplish. As the day progressed, we felt our prayers were being
answered, and that Mr. Cortez’ faith was a quiet but profound witness
to all involved.
The first issue to resolve was whether the company would give Mr.
Cortez his job back. The mediator was a retired judge. He said he had
never seen an employee reinstated to his job. This case was different.
Everyone agreed that Mr. Cortez was a good worker. The company not only
took him back, but offered him a better job than the one he had left!
This was truly a miracle.
It took all day and into the evening before we were able to agree on a
figure for damages. Mr. Cortez would be paid $110,000. For three and a
half years, the Cortez family suffered in severe poverty. Many
companies would be unconcerned about the plight of an hourly worker. It
is to Mr. Emerson’s credit that he personally negotiated a fair
resolution with integrity. How many billionaires do you know who would
be concerned about how their company treated an hourly factory worker?
Truly, it was a remarkable day.
We cannot continue to provide legal assistance to people like Luciano
Cortez without your generous financial support of the annual religious
liberty offering. A portion of the offering is used to fund our
church’s litigation efforts in support of church members who lose their
jobs due to Sabbath observance. Thank you in advance for your efforts
in behalf of the annual religious liberty offering.
The Verdict is in: Jury Awards $153,590 to Judy Clark for Religious Discrimination
Judy Clark had a successful career selling mobile homes when she was
recruited to sell park model RVs for a park in Desert Hot Springs,
California. Because the RVs have a lower selling price, the sales
manager had to offer Judy an incentive to leave her job selling higher
priced mobile homes, where she could earn larger commissions. Mrs.
Clark was offered a base salary plus commissions. The only problem is
that during the year she worked for the RV Park, she was never paid her
commissions.
Toward the end of 2003, Mrs. Clark became more insistent in demanding
payment of the outstanding sales commissions. In January, 2004, the
company decided to terminate her instead. She was one of three Mormon
employees terminated within a matter of weeks. Two months earlier, Mrs.
Clark had been shown a company memo indicating the desire to rid the
park of Mormons and other “cultists.”
Mrs. Clark found lawyers to file her lawsuit claiming religious
discrimination and breach of contract, but she was unable to afford the
costs of litigation. Providentially, she contacted a Seventh-day
Adventist family law attorney who referred her to the Church State
Council. After carefully reviewing the merits of her case, Church State
Council attorneys Michael Peabody and Alan Reinach agreed to represent
her. “We have always said that we stand for religious freedom for
everyone,” said Reinach, “so it would be hypocritical for us to reject
a good case just because the client is not of our faith.” When the case
was set for trial, settlement efforts having failed, Nicholas Miller
was recruited to serve as lead trial counsel. An experienced trial
lawyer, Miller also teaches church history at Andrews University.
The trial was conducted last September, and lasted about two weeks. The
jury saw clearly that Mrs. Clark had not been paid commissions, and
also heard testimony from the company owner about his attitude toward
Mormons. The former general manager testified that he now felt Mrs.
Clark had been terminated because of her religion. There was no
credible evidence of any performance problems or other justification
for the termination. In the end, the jury ruled in Mrs. Clark’s favor,
and awarded her damages for breach of contract and emotional distress
due to the religious discrimination and/or retaliation. The verdict was
upheld in post-trial efforts to set it aside, although appeals are
expected. With interest on the judgment, and costs, the verdict is
expected to top $200,000. It is also anticipated that costs and fees
will be recovered that will both pay the expenses of this case, and
help fund similar future cases for the church.
Prior to this case, Seventh-day Adventist attorneys have been involved
in very few religious discrimination jury trials. The experience gained
is expected to prove invaluable in assisting church members with their
Sabbath accommodation problems. “When you understand how to present a
case to a jury, you can be much more effective in handling a case from
the beginning,” observed Reinach. “We are seeing an increase in church
members losing their jobs because of the Sabbath, no doubt due, in
part, to the economic downturn,” Reinach continued: “We will need to
redouble our efforts to protect against religious discrimination in the
workplace.”
EEOC Orders Post Office to Restore Clerk to Full Time Position
We thought this case was settled. Scott Warkentin was one of two mail
carriers in the Clovis, California post office, near Fresno, who had
joined the church and needed accommodation. The first one, David Peer,
accepted a transfer to Sacramento where he was given a clerk’s position
full time, in order to adjust his schedule to avoid Saturday work.
Scott Warkentin didn’t want to move from his home when he knew there
were clerk positions open right there in Clovis which would accommodate
him. Eventually, the post office agreed, and settled the case. When Mr.
Warkentin was transferred to the clerk position last year, however, the
trouble really started, because a different union now protested that he
didn’t have any seniority, and was not entitled to a full time
position, but must accept part time work.
For many months Scott Warkentin battled against this insanity, with
other clerks filing grievances against him, and being deprived of full
time hours. Meanwhile, we filed an appeal and challenged his posting as
a violation of the agreement. The problem was that the post office had
written the settlement agreement, and it wasn’t entirely clear. What we
had discussed when we agreed to the settlement was clear – Mr.
Warkentin would never have accepted transfer to a part time position
with a significant cut in pay.
Providentially, Mr. Warkentin was able to obtain a copy of an important
e-mail written from the post office attorney to management at the post
office, indicating her understanding that he was to be given a full
time clerk position. Although the post office tried to deny that there
ever was such an understanding, the e-mail was clear. The
administrative judge read the e-mail, and concluded that Mr. Warkentin
must be given a full time clerk position.
Administrative victories like this are exceedingly rare. We rejoice
that Scott Warkentin will be able to work full time again with a
Sabbath accommodation, as well as provide for his family. What a
blessing! What a joy to be able to watch God at work!
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Proposition 8 Challenged in California Supreme Court
The
California Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of
the ballot initiative to amend the constitution to retain the historic
definition of marriage. Who gets the last word in whether marriage
shall remain a man and a woman, or be changed? Twice, the voters have
spoken. Once, the Supreme Court has reversed the voters. Will they do
it again? Should they do it again? If you care at all about the subject
of marriage, read Ken Starr’s brief filed in defense of marriage on
behalf of a coalition of religious organizations: The Ken Starr Amicus Brief
It is one of the finest legal writings I have ever seen. It is clear,
powerful, inspiring and easy to read. You will be blessed.
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QUOTABLE QUOTES
"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others."
President Thomas Jefferson
April 21, 1803
"We
should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all
religions...shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance
for honors and power...we may expect the improvements will be made in
the human character and the state of society".
President John Adams
April 8, 1785
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