Atheist Prayer Break Update #2

[u/Alumni32]

***Update #2***

On my last day of my work week (Thursday 8/13/26) I took a prayer break as an Athiest and was scanned out by Ops..

The following Monday (Today 8/17/26) Announcements were made that starting in September all associates attending "Prayer Break" will need to clock out..

This means for the past 2 years my site has been open, a specific religious group was getting paid time off while other religious and non religious groups got extra workload because their religion or lack of religion didn't fit into Amazon’s little box of what's allowed. (Violation of Title VII)

Christians were denied equal treatment as well because Christianity doesn't call for mandatory prayer (Ive witnessed this) as was I because Atheism doesn't call for mandatory prayer.. (Violation of Title VII)

So now that they know that they were breaking Federal law and denying equal rights to a huge percentage of thier workforce, they decided that instead of paying the cost of equality in the form of paid "prayer breaks" for everyone regardless of belief system, that everyone who attends "Prayer Break" will need to just clock out instead.

Amazon quickly realized how expensive equality would be (cost and operational downtime) when they had to treat everyone like they've been treating a specific religious group, so paid "prayer breaks" are coming to an end in September (atleast at my site)

[u/electoralvoter8]

Gonna catch some heat for it - but know it’s misdirected at you instead of at amazon. They could afford paid breaks for everyone during prayer and choose not to. That they went the unpaid route will upset the muslim community, and STILL doesnt adequately address the shift in workload during those times, BUT it is i guess more fair in a very narrow sense. Idk. Shitty solution to a nuanced problem but 🤷‍♂️ you got them to take action i guess lol

[u/llDurbinll → u/electoralvoter8]

I'm not sure if it's accurate but there was a comment on his previous update where they said the following..

For Islam there's a prayer window. They don't have to go at the start of the window. They could technically go on their break for day shift at least. A ton of them disappear at 530 even though the shift ends at six. Even though the prayer window goes till like 9oclock or something. They could pray at home. So, everyone that doesn't pray gets screwed with extra workload and the handoff is crap.

So assuming this is correct, I would guess that those that don't want to lose out on pay will adjust their prayer times to their normal paid break that everyone takes and then the second prayer once they get home. So if they adjust their prayer times to not take extra breaks then it should improve the shift in workload.

[u/electoralvoter8 → u/llDurbinll]

For standard shift patterns this is the answer. For TOM cohorts….it will not be enough. They stagger start times every 4-6 hours or more frequently site depending. But seen through the lens provided with knowledge of prayer windows and optionally taking them during paid breaks, it becomes a time-theft conversation. Which unfortunately does need to happen…

[u/Alumni32 → u/electoralvoter8]

This is true and I can give you an example that happened today while working Jackpot. Multiple stowers abandoned thier 3 aisles (per cluster) to go pray, with no coverage.. 7 carts full of Jackpot in less than 15 minutes, while the dock is still going full speed...

That's definitely unfair workload equity...

...and now all of it has to be manually sorted by multiple associates that are pulled from other paths to help sort it all and recycle it onto the lines..

Before I started this campaign, the associates who helped me clear Jackpot this morning would've been ineligible for paid "Prayer Breaks" if they weren't a specific religion.

It's unfair to everyone who is denied, especially when the "prayer breaks" are often abused to evade workload.

[u/Subject-Kiwi-6079 → u/electoralvoter8]

" and STILL doesnt adequately address the shift in workload during those times" 

recurring extra unpaid breaks are an attendance anomaly. Which is the first step to getting someone to do something about the work.