Update:  See more on the EEOC and more on CAIR here at this excellent article by Jerry Gordon at New English Review.

Kind of funny how things come together.  Twice in the last couple of days the EEOC (Equal Opportunity Employment Commission) has come up in relation to Somalis in the workplace. 

Turns out coincidentally that just last month the EEOC formalized its “EEOC Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination.”   Here is what author Kim Bobo said in an article in which Bobo is critical of  the “anti-Muslim” sentiment in the Tyson’s Labor Day fiasco in Shelbyville, TN:

On July 22, 2008, the EEOC issued an excellent new resource manual, “EEOC Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination,” to help employers and workers learn more about the issues. The manual contains many useful examples of what is and is not religious discrimination and helps both employers and workers understand what is reasonable accommodation and what are best workplace policies for ensuring compliance with religious discrimination laws. [read the rest here]

Then note that CAIR worked with the EEOC to get the uniform changes for Somalis at Sky Harbor.

After preliminary meetings with CAIR-AZ and the EEOC, the workers were able to come up with a uniform they believe accommodates their religious needs and the legitimate needs of the company. The new uniform includes a black skirt, an apron and an Islamic head scarf, or hijab. Airport officials were shown the new uniform and approved its use. The EEOC subsequently signed off on the uniform change.

“We would like to thank all those whose hard work and cooperation helped resolve this issue in a mutually-agreeable manner,” said CAIR-AZ Office Manager Lisa Gopalan.

She said employers who have questions about how to accommodate Muslim employees may contact the Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group.

This is how accommodation of Islamic practices for the growing number of Muslim immigrants to the US is creeping into our government and our lives.    Looks to me like CAIR lobbyists were all over the EEOC.   You can bet the EEOC wasn’t thinking about fundamentalist Christians who might want to pressure Hooters into a dress code for those Christians wishing to work at that establishment. 

To new readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch, the US State Department has brought over 82,000 Somali refugees to the US in recent years.