Rally for the Rabbi (or, it’s Miller Time)
March 4th, 2010
As reported by the Washington Post, Washington Jewish Week, and in our earlier post, Rabbi Tamara Miller was fired by George Washington University Hospital (GWUH) for posting a personal essay to the Washington Post “On Faith” blog about the shooting of Holocaust Memorial Museum guard Stephen Johns by white supremacist James von Brunn.
The purported reason: Rabbi Miller’s post allegedly violated hospital rules about patient privacy and Federal law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The real reason: After eight years of excellent employment evaluations, Rabbi Miller complained that her annual salary was $20-30K less than male directors of spiritual care at other local health-care facilities.
Read the press release below, sign the petition if you haven’t already, and sign the pledge to promote and/or attend tomorrow’s rally if you live in the DC area.
Thank you readers
Who’ve signed our petition.
We’re still trying to get GWUH to make
The right decision.
Rabbi Miller should
Got her job back.
The glass ceiling
Needs another crack.
We’re holding a rally
Friday afternoon
To encourage GWUH
To hire Rabbi Miller back soon.
If you live in the DC area
Or just happen to be in town,
We’d appreciate it
If you’d come down.
So if you’ve got the time,
We’ve got the cause.
And maybe we can
Have a beer afterwards.
If you can go,
See the information below.
And a propos,
Sign the petition if you haven’t done so.
***
Did you get the “Miller Time” references? If not, it’s probably because the source was before your time. Here it is.
PLEDGE: Take Action Against GWUH Gender Discrimination
As reported by the Washington Post and Washington Jewish Week, Rabbi Miller was fired by George Washington University Hospital (GWUH) for posting a personal essay to the Washington Post “On Faith” blog about the shooting of Holocaust Memorial Museum guard Stephen Johns by white supremacist James von Brunn. The purported reason: Rabbi Miller’s post allegedly violated hospital rules about patient privacy and Federal law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The real reason: After eight years of excellent employment evaluations, Rabbi Miller complained that her annual salary was $20-30K less than male directors of spiritual care at other local health-care facilities.
Please sign this pledge if you believe that women should receive equal pay for equal work. Rabbi Tamara should not have been fired for complaining about salary discrimination on the pretense of a supposed violation of hospital rules about patient privacy and Federal law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which even if it had been the real reason for her firing would have been more appropriately addressed by a reprimand rather than dismissal.
This is a one-time pledge that can be fulfilled by any or all of the following:
- Attend the rally in support of Rabbi Miller on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. in front of The George Washington University Hospital in Foggy Bottom, 900 23rd St., NW, Washington, DC 20037
- If you haven’t already done so, sign the Change.org petition to protest Rabbi Miller’s firing, and/or
- Promote this pledge to your friends, family, and acquaintances
Thanks for your support!
For additional background information, video of Rabbi Miller’s Fox News interview (they actually got this story right), a protest poem, and a link to the online petition, go to www.Newsericks.com/Physician-Heal-Thyself (or click here to go directly to the Change.org petition).
What: Rally for Rabbi Miller
When: Friday, March 5, 2010, 12:30 p.m.
Where: In front of The George Washington University Hospital in Foggy Bottom, 900 23rd St., NW, Washington, DC 20037
Background information, Fox News interview, protest poem, and online petition: www.Newsericks.com/Physician-Heal-Thyself (or click here to go directly to the Change.org petition).
Rally announcement and press release: www.Newsericks.com/Rally-for-the-Rabbi
ANNOUNCEMENT AND PRESS RELEASE
From: Rabbi Tamara Miller (tamara.i.miller@gmail.com)
Sent: March 02, 2010 4:33 PM
Dear Friends,
On Friday at 12:30 p.m. I will be speaking at a rally at The George Washington University Hospital to protest my firing in August. My unjust dismissal came shortly after I ministered to the family of Officer Stephen Johns, killed in the line of duty by a white supremacist at the Holocaust Museum in June.
The hospital needs to know that it can’t get away with firing a chaplain for doing her job. Please join me in making the statement that discrimination will not be tolerated.
For more information about the rally, please see the press release below, and please invite also your friends, colleagues, and family members!
I remain grateful for the continued support that I have received from you during this time, and I hope to see you in Foggy Bottom on Friday!
Appreciatively,
Rabbi Tamara Miller
(202) 731-2273
PRESS ADVISORY
CONTACT: Rabbi Tamara Miller
(202) 731-2273
Tamara@RabbiTamaraMiller.com
A rally to protest the firing of Rabbi Tamara Miller for her efforts to reach out to the African American community over the death of Officer Stephen Johns, the security guard who was mortally wounded at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will take place this Friday, March 5, 2010, at 12:30 p.m. in front of The George Washington University Hospital in Foggy Bottom. Officer Johns received treatment at GWU Hospital before his death on June 10, 2009.
Rev. John McCoy, pastor for the late Officer Johns and his family; Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Shalom Synagogue; and Rabbi Tamara Miller will speak at the rally. Jazz vocalist Cheryl Jones will sing.
On June 10, 2009, Rabbi Tamara Miller, Director of the Spiritual Care Department at GWU Hospital for the past eight years, was the senior chaplain who ministered to the Johns family. On June 25, 2009, she wrote a blog in the “On Faith” section of the Washington Post about her experience as a Jew growing up in an immigrant post-Holocaust family, and how the death of Officer Johns connected the Jewish and African American communities in their efforts to overcome bigotry. GWU Hospital claimed that she violated HIPPA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) by writing about Officer Johns. His family and pastor, the Reverend John McCoy, lauded her for her assistance to the family at this tragic time.
“The real reason that GWU Hospital terminated Rabbi Miller was because she complained about pay inequities to the CEO, and pushed the Hospital to hire more African-American chaplains,” said her attorney Lynne Bernabei of Bernabei & Wachtel, PLLC of Washington, D.C.
The rally will seek to have the Hospital rehire Rabbi Miller.
- end -
Sphere: Related Content
Tags: DC, Discrimination, Jews, Petitions, Rabbi Miller, Religion, Women’s rights
Posted in
Freedoms, What ails us |
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March 5th, 2010 at 11:05 am
[...] rally to support Rabbi Miller, recently fired from the GWU Hospital as part of a Holocaust Memorial Shooting/alleged gender-discrimination-complaint-retaliation controversy, happens today in front of the [...]