Holidays

1. Siff v. State Democratic Executive Committee
   

   500 F.2d 1307 (5th Cir. 1974)

   • Convention delegates were denied injunction to prevent party convention from meeting on date required by state (Texas) law which date coincided with Rosh Hashana.
2. People ex rel. Sarkis
   

   175 Misc.2d 433, 668 N.Y.S.2d 435 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1997), Indictment No. 15676/89. Dated December 10, 1997, as corrected March 2, 1998. Opinion by J. Reinaldo E. Rivera.

   • Petition by Orthodox Jew acquitted of second degree murder on ground of insanity and committed to psychiatric hospital to be furloughed during Jewish holidays denied, as were his proposed alternatives to the accommodations being made by the hospital; New York case.
3. Epstein v. State of New Jersey
   

   311 N.J. Super. 350, 709 A.2d 1353 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., 1998), A-4450-96T5. Dated May 12, 1998. Opinion by J. Kimmelman.

   • Notice of claim; observance of the religious holiday of Yom Kippur, which was not a state legal holiday, did not excuse the late filing of a notice of claim by one day; New Jersey law.
4. Turrentine v. State of Oklahoma
   

   1998 OK CR 33, 965 P.2d 955 (Okla. Crim. App. 1998), No. F-95-1110. Dated May 27, 1998. Reh. den. July 14, 1998, 1998 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 41. Opinion by J. Lumpkin.

   • Dismissal of person from jury panel owing to the fact that during the second week of a criminal case she would be unable to appear in court because of the Jewish religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah was within the discretion of the court; defendant was not deprived of a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community; nor was the fact that the courts were closed on Christmas, but not Rosh Hashanah, unconstitutional.
5. Novitsky v. American Consulting Engineers
   

   1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1321 (N.D. Ill. 1999), No. 97 C 8854. Dated January 28, 1999. Opinion by J. Charles P. Kocoras.

   • Jewish employee’s claim for religious discrimination and hostile environment dismissed; additional claim that the employer failed to accommodate employee’s religious observance of Yom Kippur dismissed on procedural grounds; the complaint filed with the EEOC was silent with respect to defendant’s alleged failure to accommodate and the failure to accommodate claim was not "like or reasonably related to" the religious discrimination claim.


6. Davis v. Methodist Hospital
   

   4 S.W.3d 389 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999)

   • Although Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur was recognized by the State of Texas as a holiday, it carried the status of an optional holiday and was not included as a legal holiday; consequently, plaintiff's time to file a motion for a rehearing en banc was not extended by Yom Kippur and said day was the last day to file the motion; Texas law.

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