US-based company worker fired for not accepting Scientology

A catholic woman Grecia Echevarria-Hernandez filed a discrimination lawsuit April 26 against her company for forcing her to accept scientology since she refused to watch Scientology video due to her personal belief. She claimed that her company’s action disobey the regulation about religion freedom in American constitute. Real Water, a Las-vagas based company founded by Republican Assemblyman Brent Jones and his son Blain Jones, is executive vice president of the company and is running for a Nevada Assembly seat. “I have not seen the legal documents at this time, so I cannot comment on the alleged claims,” Jones said in a statement last Tuesday.

The plaintiff said she was hired in March 2015 as a “brand ambassador” for Real Water, which markets water infused with electrons that “can help your body to restore balance, and reach your full potential!” according to the company website. On her first day, Echevarria-Hernandez said she was forced to watch several videos with religious undertones, including “The Secret” and others based on Scientology.Her supervisor later told her that she could get a 25-cent raise if she participated in self-betterment courses, and the plaintiff said she tried to sit through one of the classes. But it also had to do with Scientology and made her feel uncomfortable, so she left early. As a result, she was not eligible for raises and felt alienated by all of the other employees,. Echevarria-Hernandez said that she wasn’t previously written up for poor performance, but her supervisor wrote three reports on Oct. 8, 2015, alleging she wasn’t fulfilling her job duties. Another person fired her the next day. Echevarria-Hernandez alleges her treatment violated Nevada law and constituted discrimination, retaliation and an unlawful employment practice under the federal Civil Rights Act, which applies to any business with 15 or more employees. She’s seeking compensation for past and future lost income and benefits, unspecified damages for emotional distress, and punitive damages. The Jones have spoken publicly about their belief in Scientology.It’s not the first time Jones and his association with Scientology have been subject to a lawsuit.A fellow member of the church who had previously suffered brain damage sued Jones and the Church of Scientology years ago, saying he lost money when an ostrich-raising venture Jones ran in California in the 1990s failed. The case was settled out of court, but it emerged again as a campaign attack in a colorful 2012 Republican primary that Jones ultimately lost. Health experts have dismissed a Nevada legislator’s new age water company as junk science, as the company also sells a product called “Real Pain Be Gone,” a product that claims to use “essential oils” for pain relief, and does not list any of its active ingredients. But now one of his former employees says the company is a gateway drug for the Church of Scientology. “Real Water proudly supports a variety of community charities each year,” the company proclaims on its website. One of these supported charities is the “Citizens Commission on Human Rights,” a Scientology-backed anti-psychiatry organization that has published a paper claiming terrorism is “manufactured by psychiatry.” A water company and a Scientology-supported organization might make strange allies.