Canadian employer requires on-the-job vegetarianism

[Newsjock]

Source: CBC News

A Montreal accessories company has taken its policy of using no animal products beyond the rack and has forbidden its staff from eating meat and fish at work.

A former employee says the policy violated her rights as a non-vegetarian.

Matt and Nat, based in Montreal's Ahuntsic neighbourhood, makes its purses and belts without leather or suede, using everything from plastic bottles to rubber tires in its designs.

... Not only are the 18 employees barred from bringing meat in their lunches, if they dine at a restaurant with a client, they are required to order only vegetarian dishes.

They are also asked not to wear leather, suede or fur to work.

... According to Montreal lawyer Jordan Charness, the company is breaking no laws. He said a private company has the right to adopt its own food policy in the workplace.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/11/17/matt-nat-vegan-food-policy-in-workplace.html

[joeybee12]

1. So, non-vegetarians are a protected class?

I wonder about the lunch hour, though, whether off the clock your employer has the right to tell you what to eat, particularly if you're off company property...that seems much.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. It specified if they are at lunch with a client - thereby acting as

representatives of the company. If they go down the block for a burger at MickyD with a friend, it doesn't apply.

[joeybee12]

10. Thanks...I didn't catch that...nt

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

4. While you raise an interesting point . . .

wonder about the lunch hour, though, whether off the clock your employer has the right to tell you what to eat, particularly if you're off company property...that seems much.

As I read this story, the prohibition about eating meat while off company premises during working hours applies only when the employee is dining with a client or customer of the business.

[joeybee12]

12. Thanks for potining that out...read too quickly...

Yeah, if it's a client I can see that.

[NV Whino]

2. I you don't like the policy don't work there

Seems to me they are following the company's overall philosophy. Restaurant dining may be over the top, but personally, I would make every attempt to eat vegetarian while on duty.

[superduperfarleft]

5. Makes sense to me.

I don't allow people to eat store animal products in my refrigerator either (although I won't make someone strip if they're wearing leather, that's a bit unreasonable to ask).

Don't like it, don't work there. These people knew going in that there was a political aspect to this company.

[brendan120678]

6. So if a company had a policy that said...

"If you eat your lunch on company property, it must contain a meat product," would anyone here object to that?

[DrDan]

7. if the meat product were a "company" product and the employee

was meetng a customer - then I would not object. That would be support of the company's goals which should be expected of employees.

[superduperfarleft]

14. Only if omnivores were ethically bound not to consume vegetables.

Otherwise, the situation is not even remotely comparable.

[petronius]

19. I posted this inthe other thread, but it would be different: prohibiting something with

lots of options is much less severe than requiring something with no options. And the level of harm would be completely out of balance - a non-vetarian forced to be vegetarian for a meal suffers no harm, but the converse is certainly not true (no matter why the veggie person is vegetarian)...

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Control freaks. I wouldn't work for them even though I eat vegetarian meals regularly.

Rules when on the company clock are fine (like ordering vegetarian dishes when with a client.) It's also understandable that they're trying to promote a culture in their workplace that avoids animal products and employees have a part in that culture.

However, it's one thing to ask employees to keep animal products out of the premises, quite another to bar them from bag lunches.

[superduperfarleft]

15. Is it wrong that, as a vegan, I don't allow people to store animal-derived food products in my

refrigerator?

I'm not seeing how this is any different.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Your personal refrigerator or one provided as a convenience for your employees?

The difference is enormous. In a workplace the refrigerator issue can be resolved by offering two fridges, one vegan-friendly, one not.

Bear in mind I don't the company is violating the employees' rights, I just think that they're control freaks.

[superduperfarleft]

17. This is not some large multinational corporation, it's frickin' Mat and Nat.

PETA also doesn't allow animal products on premises. It seems intuitive to me that you'd want your employees, while on the clock, to be supporting the ultimate goals of the organization. You wouldn't leave anti-choice leaflets around if you worked for Planned Parenthood, would you?

[Gormy Cuss]

18. The company makes bags and such. If they were a vegan food company, I 'd agree with you. n/t

[superduperfarleft]

20. Veganism is about far, far more than just food. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

21. Yes, I understand that. It's the intolerance of different thinking among workers that's the issue.

The article says that they ask employees not to wear animal products -- that's consistent with their core product. Food on the other hand isn't.

[superduperfarleft]

22. If they are in the business of making vegan handbags, but also advocate veganism

as an ethos, why isn't the prohibition on animal flesh also consistent? Mat and Nat regularly involve themselves in animal rights issues, they're not just some random business selling handbags which happen to be free of animal products. It makes perfect sense to me that they'd want the faces of their organization to show some consistency in rejecting the idea that animals are ours to use as we please.

edit: Also, I really am starting to object to the word "tolerance" being thrown around. I don't "tolerate" racism, sexism, or heterosexism (especially not in my home), and I wouldn't tolerate speciesism either. I don't have to be "tolerant" of lifestyles and beliefs which I find abhorrent.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Kudos for a company with principles. No law being broken.

[HopeHoops]

11. Even as a 20-year vegetarian, I say that's bullshit. I understand their motives, but it is wrong.

[kestrel91316]

13. Waiting for the outrage by Americans who want to tell Canadians how to

run their country.......

[madinmaryland]

23. Well, it actually makes a lot of sense. Think about it. An employee of the company

meets with a client, either in the office or outside of it, and tries to promote the virtues of the company as using no animal products, yet the employee is eating a big fat hamburger.

Yeah, that would kind of kill the deal.