asterroc | (no subject)

A number of companies with pharmacies, now including Target, allow their pharmacists to refuse to perform their job duties based upon religious objections. Specifically, I am talking about pharmacists who refuse to dispense legally prescribed birth control or emergency contraception. If nothing else, you should be pissed off on behalf of the poor women with PMS, severe migraines, or severe achne who take birth control for NON-SEXUAL reasons! I'm pissed because they're specifically condoning having their employees not do their jobs.

Thru the Planned Parenthood site, I wrote a letter to be emailed to Target on the topic. My text is below if you wish to copy it. I plan to also write a physical letter as I believe these are more effective, however I am first waiting to give a friend who works for Target the chance to rebut Savage's (and others') comments.

As a consumer, I expect your pharmacies to guarantee women the right to obtain their prescriptions -- in-store, without delay or personal judgment.

Your policy give explicit approval to employees who refuse to complete their job requirements. I feel that like any other employee, if a pharmacist refuses to do his or her job, he or she should be reprimanded, and upon repeat incidences s/he should be fired.

For example, imagine if an Orthodox Jew took a job stocking shelves on a Friday night shift and then claimed that their religion did not allow them to perform work on the Sabbath. Or if a Jehovah's Witness cashier refused to ring up any medical purchases, be they bandaids or painkillers.

In any of these cases, the individual should never have taken the job knowing that s/he would be unable to perform the duties required of him/her. Having done so, the employer is then obligated to fire the employee for faililng to perform their required job duties. By NOT firing the employee in question, the employer (Target) is explicitly condoning the employee's inaction, the failure to complete job duties, and the loss of money from customers who are unable to complete their purchase.

What's next, Klansmen and neo-Nazis refusing to serve anyone who's not a white male?