Intern fired for sharing faith

Cited for religious discussion
during lunch, after hours

A former graduate student who lost an internship for discussing her Christian faith with co-workers has filed a federal lawsuit.

Jacqueline Escobar was completing a master's degree in social work at California State University Long Beach when she interned with the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS.

A straight-A student, Escobar was complimented regularly by the DCFS for her work. But she came under scrutiny for sharing her faith with co-workers during lunch breaks and after-hours, and for changing into a shirt with a religious message – "Found" – after signing out for the day, according to the Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing her.

Escobar was directed to stop sharing her faith, even during breaks and after work hours.

Also, the university ordered her to sign a document admitting she had "an inability to separate her religious beliefs from her role" as an intern.

She refused to sign the document, arguing she couldn't agree to such a sweeping prohibition that included her religious practice during non-working hours.

Consequently, Escobar was terminated from her internship and threatened with expulsion from the graduate program.

She then contacted Pacific Justice Institute and filed the federal suit.

PJI President Brad Dacus insisted DCFS "has no business telling an intern that she cannot share her faith during non-working hours."

"We are confident the federal court will cut off this muzzle which has been used to silence Ms. Escobar," he said.

As WorldNetDaily reported this week, a Christian former employee of Allstate has settled a lawsuit claiming he was fired because of an anti-homosexual, anti-same-sex marriage column he wrote on his own time.

J. Matt Barber was a manager in Allstate's Corporate Security Division, its investigative arm, at the Fortune 100 company's headquarters in Northbrook, Ill. After being called into a meeting with two human resources officials who confronted Barber about the column, he was fired.

Though the original column's bio line did not indicate Barber worked for Allstate, editors at one of the sites where it was posted added that information, and a complaint about the piece made its way to Allstate management.