Just Delete It!

By George Crocker
WNCT.com Online Executive Producer
Published: August 13, 2008

In this week’s Just Delete It, we take a look at whether Tyson Foods is dropping the Labor Day holiday in favor of a Muslim holiday.
The e-mail spreading like wildfire maintains that Tyson is only just beginning to remove holidays and other symbols that made America great.

Just Delete It!
This e-mail gets it wrong on several accounts.

First of all, it is true that workers at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee were given a Muslim holiday off instead of Labor Day.  The majority of workers at that plant are of the Muslim faith and their union requested this day instead of Labor Day as a paid holiday.

However, a few days later, Tyson issued a new statement reinstating Labor Day as a paid holiday with the Muslim holiday as an additional paid personal holiday for calendar year 2008 only.

The paid personal holiday could be the employee’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr or another day requested and approved by their supervisor.