Wiccan Practitioner Sues Former Employer Over Termination

bostonherald - A Connecticut Bath & Body Works staffer who practices witchcraft claims her boss put a hex on her career for using vacation time to attend Salem’s annual Halloween celebration.

Gina Uberti charges in a federal lawsuit that Bath & Body Works fired her after she took a week off around Halloween 2008 to mark the Wiccan holiday of Samhain.

“Any and all excuses offered by (Bath & Body Works) for the plaintiff’s termination are a pretext for the true reason - religious discrimination,” the East Haven, Conn., woman’s lawyer wrote in court papers.

Neither Uberti, her attorney or Bath & Body Works returned calls seeking comment on the case.

But in court filings, Uberti alleged that the chain canned her after eight years because she took time off for the holiday, also called “Witches’ New Year.”

Uberti, a Bath & Body Works district sales manager, claims she’d taken vacation around Samhain for years, but said her new supervisor flipped out when learning why.

During a Nov. 4, 2008, phone call about her absence, Uberti’s boss allegedly said: “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” adding, “Well, you will need a new career in your new year. . . . I will be damned if I have a devil worshipper on my team.”

Two weeks later, Uberti claims, Bath & Body Works fired her.

Now, the witch wants a judge to order Bath & Body Works to take her back - and to award back pay and any damages the court deems justified.

Local Wiccan practitioners say they don’t know Uberti, but say they often face a witch’s brew of discrimination.

Wiccan reverend Rick Watson said he’s been spit on and had crosses left on his lawn because critics believe - erroneously - that witches worship Satan rather than the natural world.

And “Tala,” a Wiccan high priestess who works as an occupational therapist, said she doesn’t publicly identify as a witch because she doesn’t want Christian patients to “freak out.”

“Even though Wicca is considered a legal religion, there is still a lot of persecution about it, so witches have to be careful,” she said.

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