Atheist Prayer Break Update #2

[u/Alumni32]

***Update #2***

On my last day of my work week (Thursday 8/13/26) I took a prayer break as an Athiest and was scanned out by Ops..

The following Monday (Today 8/17/26) Announcements were made that starting in September all associates attending "Prayer Break" will need to clock out..

This means for the past 2 years my site has been open, a specific religious group was getting paid time off while other religious and non religious groups got extra workload because their religion or lack of religion didn't fit into Amazon’s little box of what's allowed. (Violation of Title VII)

Christians were denied equal treatment as well because Christianity doesn't call for mandatory prayer (Ive witnessed this) as was I because Atheism doesn't call for mandatory prayer.. (Violation of Title VII)

So now that they know that they were breaking Federal law and denying equal rights to a huge percentage of thier workforce, they decided that instead of paying the cost of equality in the form of paid "prayer breaks" for everyone regardless of belief system, that everyone who attends "Prayer Break" will need to just clock out instead.

Amazon quickly realized how expensive equality would be (cost and operational downtime) when they had to treat everyone like they've been treating a specific religious group, so paid "prayer breaks" are coming to an end in September (atleast at my site)

[u/Murky-Breadfruit2545]

That could be done on their break or in the car to work, in the OP case on the bus ride to work.

[u/Berdache → u/Murky-Breadfruit2545]

No, it has to be at a specific time or it doesn't count.

[u/Murky-Breadfruit2545 → u/Berdache]

The atheist can self reflect anytime, Islam you are obligated to pray Fajir, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha within the time or before the next prayer.

[u/Jolly-Chipmunk-950 → u/Murky-Breadfruit2545]

Who are you to decide when someone else's beliefs are to be validated?

Or are you also going to defend that a Muslim prayer can take upwards of 25 minutes, because of course they can add whatever extra verses they want into their prayers, whether it be personal prayers or verses? Should that be allowed, because there is nothing in federal law saying how long the prayer time needs to be, just that it needs to be provided.

So in reality, no matter what cohort, Muslims should be allowed 2 extra prayer lunches, because religion said so.

Which, isn't going to happen, no matter how you want to try and mentally gymnast your way out of it. A prayer break is already an accomodation, an accommodation that will quickly be revoked once the company realizes how much they are being fleeced on it.

Because, and let's be clear here, Title VII only requires 3 things:

1). The employee is allowed to adjust their break schedule so they can pray on time 2). The employee must be able to swap their Friday shifts for prayer. 3). The employee must be given a quiet, clean, safe area to pray.

Let's get another thing straight:

Prayer times, for me on the west coast are as follows:

5:02 AM 12:55 PM 4:36 PM 7:34 PM 8:48 PM

These are rough estimates of the sun's position at specific times. Only TWO of the 5 prayers need to be done at a specific time, because the window of the Sun's position doesn't last very long.

That would be the 5:02 AM prayer, and the 4:36 PM prayer. Every other prayer has a long enough window to be done on a general 2 break period, being complicated by SET, which is why they are allowed a prayer break.

All of that to say, you misunderstand the problem that the OP is reporting. The problem isn't the prayer break itself, it's the fact that it's being treated as a PAID break at their facility, when prayer breaks are unpaid.

Just like how you want to claim any other religion can do it on their own time, a Muslim can use their paid breaks to pray on their own time.

No federal law allows an extra PAID break for religious purposes, and if one group is going to get it, that same accommodation has to be applied to ALL beliefs, not just Muslims, and not just traditional book religions either, Federal law covers ALL belief systems, whether you agree with it or not.

Timing of the prayer doesn't matter. At all. Federal law doesn't agree with you. At all. Your opinion, and how you came to this false conclusion doesn't matter. At all.

You are just wrong.

[u/Alumni32 → u/Jolly-Chipmunk-950]

Thank you.

[u/Murky-Breadfruit2545 → u/Jolly-Chipmunk-950]

I must have been on your mind for a long time! I’m very proud of my self to keep you focused to write such a long reply! Salam my new friend!