219 Comments
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ericc's avatar

I really don't care how the courts rule on franchise vs. franchisee business rights, but the law should be consistent. If the franchisee has a right to close on Sundays against the wishes of the franchise, then other franchisees should have the right to open on Sundays against the wishes of the franchise.

Put another way, if a religious store owner has the right to say no to some nonreligious franchise owner, then a nonreligious store owner should have the right to say no to some religious franchise owner. To do otherwise is to carve out a special legal privilege for religious store and franchise owners that nonreligious owners don't get.

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Joe King's avatar

There 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 be a non-religious Chik-Fil-A franchisee out there somewhere who wants to open his Bigot Bird on Sunday. That would be a location I would be willing to patronize.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

I wouldn't, their food is bland.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I stick with the local chicken gods (Ezell's Famous Chicken).

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Robot Bender's avatar

Which is precisely the point. They want their religion to be exempted from everything.

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Matri's avatar

But only for themselves, and not for others.

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Sarah Longstaff's avatar

To be honest, franchises have ruined workers' rights. Every middle man, and that includes franchise owners, inserted between workers and corporate executives/ shareholders siphons off more of the surplus, and there is a direct connection between franchising and the 40 year suppression of wages in the US. In Florida, there franchises, like Subway stores, that are operating with ONE employee to manage the entire store! That circumvents the "two employees needed to form a union" requirement, and it means that that single employee can't go to the bathroom. It is also extremely unsafe! Having lived in countries in Europe where businesses are closed on Sundays, the argument there is that "workers have the right to spend a day with their families." Religion is not the reason. Instead of criticizing this new law, let's figure out a way to reframe it to be pro-workers' rights rather than pro-religion, and let's try to expand it.

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datagrrl's avatar

But when you are dead poor you would probably rather get paid than have a day off.

I think of high school or college students. Why would they work at a place that is closed one of the two or three days that they can work a week.

I agree with you on the franchising thing, but personally when I need a second job I am not looking for one that is closed half the weekend.

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Sarah Longstaff's avatar

Yep. But if wages had kept up with inflation, instead of lining billionaires' pockets, you wouldn't need a second job. That's the catch.

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Matri's avatar

They’re just trying to make it so they don’t have to hire non-Christians.

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Daryl's avatar

I agree. I think the religious communal “day of rest” fits well in the framework of workers rights. But the merit is in people getting the same day off, so we would all need to agree to a day, and anyone working on that day gets paid triple time.

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BL Foster's avatar

The more I learn as a Christian, the more I admire my atheist friends. The laws needs to be fair and equal for everyone. Period!

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Moon Cat's avatar

That's why the Government and the Laws should remain non religious. Separation of Church and State. That's one of the major reasons America was exceptional and innovative. The other was it's diversity as we had people from every Country, Religion, Race, Culture and language living together in somewhat peaceful exchange. Obviously we're having trouble with both now. If we succeed in overcoming the current attempt to return to Divine Right of Kings, we will be the pattern for the ability of humanity to obtain Peace of all Countries on Earth. The men who obtained Dictatorships are proven to be disordered, sick personalities who should be in therapy instead of in power. There are very few people causing all these problems.

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BL Foster's avatar

I agree completely!

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

I don't know. The whole franchise business model seems crappy if corporate can change the contact whenever they wish and you have no input.

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Alverant's avatar

True. If that's all that law did, it wouldn't have been mentioned here. But the law gives a specific privilege for the religious beliefs of the franchise owner, not the corporation and it looks like it's a one-way street. If a business said, "all franchises have to be closed on Sunday because of my religious beliefs", a franchise could not say, "I don't share those beliefs so I'll be open." by this law.

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Joe King's avatar

𝐹𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠.

This goes beyond the (relatively) benign blue laws found in most states. It actively promotes religion, in direct violation of the Establishment Clause. And we all know which religion it intends to promote. If a Muslim business owner were to insist on closing Fridays, they would see no protection from this law. Their decision to be closed on Fridays would be claimed by the NSGOP to be an act of terrorism, and thus not covered. The Jewish owner closing Saturdays would face a more subtle campaign of punishment, because the NSGOP is still hiding behind "Judeo-Christian" to pretend they aren't Nazis.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The religiously privileged Christian businesses close on Sunday and drive their customers into the arms of their competition, who are only too happy to remain open and make revenue.

*thumb and forefinger OK sign* Sound business model, Christians.

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John Smith's avatar

Then those Christians business will scream that non Christian businesses have unfair advantage, so all businesses should be closed on Sunday. This is just a way to bring back blue laws, and you know only Christians will have this right to decide what is open and when. All others (religions) won’t be able to make the same choice.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

Well, at least it will make it easier to find the businesses I wouldn't want to frequent anyway.

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oraxx's avatar

Not sure how to feel about this. Republicans tend not to want to interfere with business, unless of course it benefits them politically to do so. While closing on Sunday isn't likely to hurt anyone very much, historically there is no horror that cannot be, and has not been, justified in the name of religion. A very slippery slope where freedom is concerned.

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cynthia wilson's avatar

I work about half of each year in Utah. I can tell you that the majority of people are not out doing things on Sunday. As an atheist I try to do most of my shopping and what not on Sunday because I know that there won’t be a crowd.

When I go to Costco on Sunday I don’t have to see the pathetic FLDS women. Honestly it’s absolutely no loss at all. I would rather give my money to the non religious businesses.

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Alverant's avatar

At first I was thinking, "The owners shouldn't be allowed to change the contract." but the way this law is described it looks like another case of, "Christian Privilege".

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ericc's avatar

Yes, the bothersome part (in my mind) is not the corporate legal stuff, it's that the legislation says the only legit reason for getting this benefit is religion.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

When I was running the pool over a decade ago, I had to schedule the swim lessons. This pool had lessons on Mondays, Tuesday/Thursday and Saturdays. The Saturday lessons were a bit longer to make up for the single day, but the Monday lessons were not longer because the pool could t accommodate that, but there wasn’t lessons on Wednesdays. I was told by one lifeguard that the reason is because all the parents in the area go to church on Wednesdays so they only want Monday lessons. Claiming we wouldn’t fill classes on Wednesday. But looking into it, it was the lifeguards who didn’t want to teach on Wednesdays because they attended church that night. The last director hired all the lifeguards from the church. So I was always scrambling to get coverage on weds and Sunday. The lifeguard thought I was an anomaly for not attending the one church they all came from, despite the town having so many other churches that were well attended and obviously a faction of non church folks.

People in the church bubbles can’t imagine the people around them aren’t in the same bubble. I know we all are aware of this, but Utah businesses and government would do well to learn they aren’t the only people in the state. Even if that’s how they want it, it will never happen.

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Whitney's avatar

You know, I've often thought that for some folks, that church bubble must be a wonderful thing. When you're in it everyone agrees with you, they love you (or at least pretend to), they welcome you to the community, your friends are there, and so on. Leaving for the Big Scary World must seem like willing going to live a nightmare, as it were.

The problem is, of course, that once you've cottoned on to some of the shenanigans nobody ever wants to talk about, that bubble is a LOT less wonderful and a lot more Stepford Wives.

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Kay-El's avatar

I don’t know which annoys me more, the corporation changing the rules in the middle of the game, or the idiots who came up with that “Christian privilege” bill and signed it. Why not both, indeed. 🙄

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Frankly, I don't give a rotten dump about when some religionist-owned business is open or closed. Chick-fil-A has been OFF my list for as long as I've been aware of them and their anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and it will remain off until Dan Cathy can be bothered to cop a clue (and no, I am NOT holding my breath). The same may be said about Nothing Bundt Cakes.

Where this entire business goes out of bounds is with Ken Ivory's proposed bill. Government interference with something like operating days and/or hours amounts to meddling, as far as I'm concerned, never mind Ivory's obvious virtue-signaling. Of course, this IS Utah, the bill is now law.

I'll be interested in seeing what if any lawsuits commence from this business, if any.

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Matri's avatar

So much for the party of 𝓕𝓡𝓔𝓔𝓔𝓔𝓓𝓤𝓤𝓜𝓜𝓜𝓜𝓜 and sᴍᴀʟʟ ɢᴏᴠᴇʀɴᴍᴇɴᴛ , right?

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Crowscage's avatar

What they want is a government large enough to put its boot on the back of every neck to force complience and too small and powerless to protect ordinary citizens.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

It's been a LONG time since the GOP has been anything NEAR those qualities, and getting them back to basics will be a long and arduous task, presuming it can be accomplished at all.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Here, there is two different ways to fo things, depending of the numbers of employees. Small businesses, one closed day a week. You can only operate 7 days a week if you have enough employees to allow one day of rest by employee.

Jews close their shops from Fridays afternoon to Saturdays evening or Sundays, Muslims on Fridays, most people on Sundays. My bakery close on Wednesdays. Some florists close on Mondays etc...

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Chad Henshaw's avatar

Never understood why someone would buy into a franchise. Paying someone to be your boss seems a terrible idea.

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Claudia's avatar

Although a franchisee benefits from an established brand, clearly more people will have heard of 'Nothing bundt cakes' than they will be familiar with 'Yummy baked goods made by Claudia'.

But the contract rules seem rather restrictive, it should really be a local decision as regards their business hours.

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Whitney's avatar

Usually, the franchise makes rules that are intended to maintain quality and consistency across all the franchisees, and hours of operation can make sense in that context. Someone visits San Francisco from Seattle, they know the local store will probably be open on Sunday at 1PM, that kind of thing. Sure, it's to make money too, but the claim the franchisees were making isn't all there is to the story.

From what I understand, contract rules for franchisees are often restrictive for reasons that might not make much sense immediately, but do make business sense on some level. There are any number of restaurants that wouldn't be solvent if they closed on Sundays, which says quite a bit about how religious people expect others to work on Sundays so they don't have to, doesn't it?

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larry parker's avatar

How did she get to the store? She hates transportation.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

Hope she's not Catholic (transubstantiation).

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Doesn't religion require relating to the transcendental?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Does she ever transfer money to her credit card?

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Mr.E's avatar

hope she never needs some one to TRANSlate for her

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Or purchase anything online from another country. That would be transcontinental.

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Mr.E's avatar

you really are the best at puns. I will Transcribe that to anybody on this website

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I thank you. A big transfusion from all the old and new commenters here is always welcome. :)

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Her ability to think is transient.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Indeed. Quite transitory.

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Mr.E's avatar

you could say her brain is very translucent

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Her bigotry is transparent.

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