The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters
Catherine Gray
8 Posts
In the news recently was a woman from Massachusetts who wanted to wear a metal colander on her head for her drivers license photo. Generally, drivers are not permitted to wear a head covering for the picture, but exceptions are made for religious practices. The woman said she wore the colander as part of her religious observance as a "Pastafarian" or member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters. The Massachusetts DMV made an exception for her and she wore the colander
This made me wonder how employers would or should respond to an employee showing up to work with a colander on his or her head who, when questioned, claims he or she is a Pastafarian. Has anyone run into this in the workplace? How do we distinguish between religious beliefs and other beliefs or practices? I looked up Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters on Wikepedia and the claim to be a religious belief seems somewhat dubious to me.
Comments
Here is some guidance that Oklahoma Employment Law Letter editor Charlie Plumb dished out in early 2014 after Pastafarians asked to erect a statue on Oklahoma's Capitol grounds. Memorable line: "Nothing rocks my taste buds like linguine in red clam sauce, but an
employer has better things to do than argue with a Pastafarian employee
about his right to hang a framed picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
next to a depiction of the Last Supper in the break room."