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Diskeeper Accused of Scientology Indoctrination

Posted by kdawson on from the is-that-perfectly-clear dept.

touretzky writes "Two ex-employees have sued Diskeeper Corporation in Los Angeles Superior Court after being fired, alleging that the company makes Scientology training a mandatory condition of employment (complaint, PDF). Diskeeper founder and CEO Craig Jensen is a high-level, publicly avowed Scientologist who has given millions to his Church. Diskeeper's surprising response to the lawsuit (PDF) appears to be that religious instruction in a place of employment is protected by the First Amendment." The blogger at RealityBasedCommunity.net believes that the legal mechanism that Diskeeper is using to advance this argument ("motion to strike") is inappropriate and will be disallowed, but that the company will eventually be permitted to present its novel legal theory.

8 of 779 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I guess it is Raxco's PerfectDisk to defrag my disks from now on....

    1. Re:Wow by Dan541 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well I don't want that criminal cult having anything even remotely to do with my system.

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
    2. Re:Wow by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention the idea of patronizing companies who treat their employees well over patronizing those who mistreat them. And forced Scientology training is certainly mistreatment.

      --
      This space available.
  2. What the hell? by DurendalMac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't that religious discrimination in the workplace? Seems like a cut and dried case to me. I'm sure the Co$ will lawyer up and try to fight it, but I don't see how they could possibly win this case.

    1. Re:What the hell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A tenet of scientology is that it's okay to lie, cheat, and steal. The doctrine of "Fair Game" (note that if you're a paid-up scientologist you may have a web filter helpfully installed that blocks or modifies that page).

      It is almost cheesy-movie-villain evil. If someone claims to be a scientologist in particular, they are saying they're fine with that and therefore trusting them would be totally insane.

      That is in marked contrast to real religions, which tend to at least have at their core some variant of "be excellent unto eachother" (even if a power-hungry priesthood fucks it up in practice), the so-called "Golden Rule". While I'm an atheist, I do believe if more people followed the basic humanistic teachings attributed to, say, Jesus or the Buddha, the world would be a better place. If everyone followed the crazed teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the world would be a nightmarish hellhole.

  3. Re:California is a at will state by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good to know, that means I won't have to hire Blacks, cripples or homosexuals either.
    Oh wait, that's not how it really works now is it?

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  4. Re:It doesn't work like that. by Jeian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As one of my professors loved to say:

    You can fire someone for no reason, but you can't fire them for the wrong reason.

  5. Re:It doesn't work like that. by SBFCOblivion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Forcing someone to actively practice a religion is probably illegal

    There's no 'probably' about it. It is illegal.

    but requiring someone to be knowledgeable in the religions practices even if it requires training, probably isn't anymore illegal than requiring someone to receive training about how to operate a piece of machinery.

    Cause that makes sense. A company that develops software would have need of its employees being knowledgeable in any religion.