Observance of Wiccan New Year Ends in Religious Discrimination Suit

[icymist]

October 23, 2009
Observance of Wiccan New Year Ends in Religious Discrimination Suit
Last Halloween, Gina Uberti took vacation days to celebrate the Wiccan new year in Salem, Massachusetts, the town infamously known for the witch trials of 1692 that ended with the hanging of 14 women.

Less than a month after Uberti took part in the festivities of Samhain, one of the holiest days in the Wiccan calendar, she was fired from her job as a district sales manager for Bath & Body Works.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Connecticut last week, Uberti alleges she was unfairly terminated for practicing Wicca, known as the largest of neopagan religions.

Uberti alleges in the lawsuit that her boss said just before she was fired, “You will need a new career in your new year. … I will be damned if I have a devil worshiper on my team.”

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