Woo Hoo Witchy Woman

By Joanna Miller in News on Jul 6, 2006 4:05PM

Two years after losing her job at Crawford and Co. Inc. in Schaumburg, Rebecca Sommers has filed suit against the company claiming she was fired not for poor job performance, but because she is a Wiccan.

The Church of Wicca defines itself as a “new religion that emphasizes growth through harmony in diversity, knowledge, wisdom and exploration.” The church calls its followers witches, and says they follow various forms of a basic guiding principle: “If it harm none, do what you will.”

In other words, Wiccans are more of the happy, dancing around a May Pole witches, and not so much the scary, pointy-hat-wearing storybook kind.

According to Sommers, she wasn’t harming anyone in her two years as an accounts analyst with the Georgia-based firm and, in fact, received a good performance review and a bonus before revealing her religion.

After that, she says, one manager called her a “devil worshipper” in front of other employees (the Church of Wicca emphasizes that “Witches are not Satanists”), and, when she asked for a day off to observe a Wiccan holiday, another manager told her to keep her religion to herself.

Sommers is seeking back pay and punitive damages.

Wrapping the May Pole via cronewynd