Britain Moves To Protect Unemployed for Shabbat
Image by getty images
Britain has issued guidelines to ensure that Sabbath-observant Jews are not denied unemployment benefits for refusing to work on Saturdays.
The guidelines set down by the Department for Work and Pensions in an internal memo to Jobcentre employment agencies across the country is called “The Jewish Sabbath,” the London Jewish Chronicle reported.
The memo explains that the Jewish Sabbath requires refraining from work.
According to the guidelines, Jewish job seekers can limit their hours on a certain day as long as they can work 40 hours in a week.
The guidelines were issued several weeks after Britain’s employment minister said she would introduce regulations to make Jews who refuse to work on their Sabbath eligible for welfare benefits.
There have been at least 50 cases of people from different religions being denied unemployment benefits because the claimants’ religious observance interfered with their ability to work, the Jewish Chronicle reported. At least 15 cases involved Jews, five of whom won tribunal cases against the welfare department.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
