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Outside 'The South': Muslims quit at Wisconsin Manufacturing Company over prayer time

BRILLION. WI

A concern over prayer during work hours at the Ariens Company in Brillion came to a conclusion on Thursday, January 14.

Corporate spokeswoman Ann Stilp released a short statement about the situation, which involved a group of about 40 employees that the company described as “Somalis and/or employees of Muslim faith working here.”

Stilp said Ariens had been allowing them to take paid time to pray during work hours, in addition to breaks scheduled for all employees. The company said that was disrupting production, and was unfair to non-Islamic employees.

Ariens made a decision to ask employees to pray only during scheduled breaks, and told Muslim employees on Thursday. Stilp said most of them quit after Ariens announced its decision.

Some did not resign and no one was fired. Stilp said those who left could return to work under the conditions outlined by the company on Thursday.

This is a developing story. A complete report will appear in the January 21 print edition of The Brillion News.

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Ariens Co. defends prayer policy for Muslim employees

BRILLION — Ariens is clarifying its policies after a report claimed Muslim employees were fired.

CEO Dan Ariens says Muslim employees left work Thursday after the company said it was going to start enforcing its break policy.

"Everyone is still as we consider an employee of Ariens Company of these 53 affected employees," said Ariens.

He said the employees were taking unscheduled breaks to pray, which impacted the company's work flow.

"Let's say I'm on an assembly line with 10 people, and two of those people take an unscheduled break. Everything stops. Those two people might be using five minutes but the other eight are standing there waiting for those five minutes," Ariens explained.

He says non-Muslim employees raised concerns about fairness.

The company says employees can pray during their two scheduled breaks.

On Monday night, eight of the Muslim employees met with the Council on American Islamic Relations in Minneapolis.

The Executive Director of the group, Jaylani Hussein, says employees want to have more talks with company so all their needs are met.

"Maybe switch the schedules so that the breaks are actually in line to keep the majority of the people," he said.

"Muslims pray five times a day and the times are determine by the sun's rotation," explained Khurram Ahmad, president of the Muslim mosque in Oshkosh.

"To my knowledge, Ariens has gone above to accommodate the needs. It is also important that the employed respect that part and look for room within what the rule allows for and try to accommodate that," Ahmad said.

Muslim employees have until Jan. 25 to decide if they will return to work at Ariens.

Ariens says eight employees have plans to return to work and two said they would return but work on a new shift.

The company said some employees received unemployment information in case they decided not to return to work.

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Dan Ariens, President and CEO of Ariens, released this statement:

A letter from Dan Ariens:

I understand that the headline and story featured on WBAY appears to be alarming news about Ariens Company. It is alarming to me as well. Unfortunately this headline does not tell our story very well.

As many of you know, my family has operated manufacturing businesses in Northeast Wisconsin for more than 80 years. You also may know that we have only been successful by operating under a set of Core Values. We will: Be Honest, Be Fair, Keep our Commitments, Respect the Individual and Encourage Intellectual Curiosity. We work very hard as a team to accommodate all employees with our vision of Passionate People who Astound our Customers.

In our manufacturing plants we work as a team to build the best power equipment product. Like any accommodation, we put a considerable amount of time into finding a solution that would work for both the employees and the company. Our staff is committed to providing a great place to work for all employees and have met with members of our Somalian employee group to better understand their needs. We consulted with local representatives who are of Muslim faith to help provide sustainable solutions.

We want to be clear that no one was terminated here. We are asking employees to use two scheduled breaks for religious observation, and are offering designated prayer rooms. Additionally, we are also offering to look for positions on other shifts that might better accommodate prayer obligations. This change affected 53 employees.

More than ten of the employees have contacted Ariens Company to say they will return to work under the new policy. And we welcome their return. We continue to be open to any of the employees returning to work under the new policy and I have sent a letter to each of them re-stating that offer.

Let me be clear: we respect their faith, we respect the work they have done at Ariens, and we respect their decision regardless of their choice to return to work or not. Headlines do not make a story. If you want more details, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Dan Ariens


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