
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994                   TAG: 9405180076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                                LENGTH: Short

PREACHER SAYS NEVER ON SUNDAY

The Rev. Henry E. Diggs wants to preach on Sundays instead of working at his other job, but the Norfolk Naval Shipyard disagrees.

Diggs' four-year dispute has gone to Navy Secretary John Dalton after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission judge concluded last month that the shipyard violated Diggs' civil rights.

``I was a victim, but I have come out a victor because the Lord is on my side,'' said Diggs, a physical science technician at the shipyard who also is pastor of the Morning Star Baptist Church in Windsor.

The shipyard wanted Diggs to work an occasional overtime shift on Sundays, about once a month, but Diggs argued that his religious beliefs enable him to insist on taking off Sundays. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March 1989 upheld the right of workers to refuse to work Sundays for religious reasons, if they were sincere.

Diggs went to the EEOC in March 1990 when he could not get co-workers to volunteer to take his place. The judge ruled April 6 that the shipyard wasn't trying hard enough to see that Diggs got the day off.

Dalton has 30 days to accept, reject or modify the ruling. If he rejects it, Diggs could appeal the case to federal court, extending it another year or two.

``The system is designed to wait you out,'' said Neil Bonney, Diggs' attorney. ``They are hoping that the people will get tired and forget about the complaint.''

by CNB