Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HashanahiStock

A Jewish man is suing the Unilever corporation for firing him after having taken a day off for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), the New York Post reported.

David Rosenbaum, an employee at Unilever's New Jersey plant, had asked for official leave for the holidays but was turned down by his superior. In accordance with his beliefs, Rosenbaum took the day off anyway and was later told that he had been dismissed "because you didn't come to work yesterday."

Rosenbaum's lawsuit alleges that the same superior who had denied his request for overtime had in the past touched Rosenbaum inappropriately, making verbal propositions and asking for a loan and that there has been considerable difficulty in finding a new position due to the pandemic.

Rosenbaum claims that both the incident and the languid response from the higher echelons of the company are evidence of anti-Semitism in Unilever, saying that, "Unilever’s anti-Semitism was demonstrated in July 2021, when Unilever’s subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, began an illegal boycott of Israel by refusing to sell its ice cream there."

Rosenbaum is suing for unspecified damages. Neither the company nor his superior have responded to requests for comment.