New York – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said on Tuesday it had sued Vonage Holdings Corp. (VG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), alleging the company discriminated against a Jewish employee and fired him.
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The commission alleged in its complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey that Vonage subjected Mikhail Rozenberg to discrimination on the basis of his faith — Orthodox Judaism — by refusing to accommodate his religion in training sessions and work shifts.
A Vonage spokesman said he had not seen the suit and could not comment.
Rozenberg was hired by Vonage in September 2005 as a technical service agent, the commission said.
Vonage knew when it hired him that he was Jewish and needed to work during times that did not conflict with his religious observances, the commission said.
But the company refused to allow Rozenberg, for religious observances, to miss two days of a six-week training program despite a policy of allowing other employees to miss sessions with proper documentation, the commission alleged.
Vonage also told him that he was not a “good fit” and that when he stopped practicing his religion he could come back, the commission alleged. [reuters]
if shelly would see your comment he would rip you apart
Citron was the largest shareholder of Datek Online, which was a separate legal entity from Datek Inc.
Citron’s share alone of the sale of Datek Online to Ameritrade was over $500M.
The fine was bubkas. It cost Citron about $1M, if not less.
–Joseph
he didnt get 500 million
maybe shelly m.the whole sale was for $525 million then they were fined
I worked as a voice quality consultant to Vonage in 2005, a few months before this person was hired. They were still Edison, NJ. Shortly afterwards they moved to Holmdel, NJ. I never saw any other frum Yidden there (and they are a big company–close to 1,000 employees.)
The founder/CEO, Jeffrey Citron, is a Yid. He is worth $500 Million from the sale of his last company, Datek, to Ameritrade. He is a “regular” guy. In fact he sits in a cubicle in middle all ther other employees. And it took me a few weeks before I realized he was the CEO (he roamed aound and ate lunch with with everyone else.)