Another U.S. manufacturer is under fire from Muslims over changing policies that affect workers' prayer times.

Last month, it was in a meat-packing plant in Colorado; this month, a machine manufacturer in Wisconsin. 

Ariens Manufacturing recently changed a policy which formerly allowed Muslim workers to leave the production line at two unscheduled times per shift for prayer. Now they are asking employees to pray only during scheduled breaks in the provided prayer rooms. The company reversed its policy after they noticed a change in output from the production line.

Ariens employs 53 Somali Muslims. Though 10 of them have agreed to stay on under the new policy, others have opted to quit. Now the complaints are pouring in to local news:

“If someone tells you, ‘You pray on your break,’ and the break time is not the prayer time? It will be impossible to pray."

"We pray by the time. So they say, ‘If you don’t pray at the break time,’ they give us this paper to just leave.”

But the company made it clear that they are willing to offer other shifts that can accommodate its employees needs. From the statement:

We are open to any of the employees returning to work under the new policy or will look for openings in shifts that do not coincide with prayer time. We respect their faith, and we respect their decision regardless of their choice to return to work or not.

According to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, Ariens' policy change is within workplace guidelines: "[A]n employer does not have to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs or practices if doing so would cause undue hardship to the employer… [or] decreased efficiency.”

Enter the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is asking Ariens to revert back to the old policy that allowed its Muslim workers to pray any time they wanted. CAIR states this can all be "resolved in a spirit of respect for constitutionally-protected religious rights."

CEO Dan Ariens responded saying, "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."

He added:

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.

Pamela Geller, president of Stop Islamization of America, commented on this story: "Everywhere American mores conflict with sharia, it is our mores that must give way. Muslims impose their work times, their sharia on non-Muslim coworkers, and punish companies that refuse to submit. Litigation jihad is a huge industry, and American companies are being held hostage by Muslim workers."

Action News 2 reports:

H/T Bizpac Review