Airport Employee Suspended for Displaying Jesus Portrait
A Catholic airport worker in England was temporarily suspended for posting up an image of Jesus in the airport's staff room after a Muslim colleague complained.
Gareth Langmead, who is a car park supervisor at Manchester City Airport, was accused of posting up the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a picture popular among many Catholics – as "an act of provocation," according to the complaint.
Langmead says he found the image when clearing out a desk drawer and decided to hang it up rather than throw it away.
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After hanging up the picture, a Muslim colleague complained and Langmead was consequently escorted off the airport's premises and barred from work while his employers investigated the claim.
A spokesman for the airport later said Langmead had been found innocent of wrongdoing, according to The Times newspaper, and was reinstated after three days.
"This investigation was swiftly concluded and the employee has returned to work with a clean record," the spokesman said.
"Given the nature of this incident, we have agreed with our airport chaplain that he and his team will work with the employees involved to foster a greater level of understanding about each other's beliefs and how this applies in the workplace."
In 2006, Nadia Eweida, a Christian check-in worker for British Airways at London's Heathrow airport, was suspended for four months for wearing a cross on her necklace. The airline later agreed to review its uniform policy after extensive bad publicity, and Eweida was allowed to return to work.
