Just when it seemed “The Christmas Wars” were cooling, a religious discrimination complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has stoked the fiery chasm separating the politically correct from the Christian faithful. Simply put, which is it: ”Happy Holidays” or ”Merry Christmas”?

A former employee of Counts-Oakes Resorts Properties in Florida says she was fired when she refused to answer the phones as instructed: “Happy Holidays from Counts-Oakes Resorts Properties. How may I assist you?”  When the employee, a Christian and a Baptist, objected and offered to say either “Merry Christmas” or to continue greeting callers the same way they were greeted throughout the year, she was fired. Her employer says, for the moment, there’s a lot more to it than that.

The employee insists that her religious beliefs prevented her from contributing to the secularization of Christmas, so she asked for an accommodation, something she’s entitled to as long as her belief is sincerely held and the accommodation doesn’t cause the employer an undue hardship. Some employment lawyers/bloggers are siding with the employer. For example, see here and here, because saying “Merry Christmas” isn’t a tenet of religious faith, or the employee wanted to use her employer’s telephones to push her own faith.

I’m hesitant to take sides in The Christmas Wars, but I’m also hesitant to blow off the employee’s complaint. An employee doesn’t have to show that what she believes is a tenet of her church but of her own personal faith. Moreover, the employee’s willingness to continue the regular greeting seems to thwart the argument that she wanted to use the phones to preach rather than greet.

The term “Merry Christmas” has been so commercialized over the years, I dare say that when most people say it or hear it, they’re more inclined to think about Santa than Jesus. But if an employee’s faith causes her to request to say “Merry Christmas” or not say “Happy Holidays,” the request must be considered. Such a request may be an annoyance to an employer, but is it an undue hardship? Perhaps the employer will argue that it is, because the employer has a legitimate interest in using a greeting inclusive of all faiths. But millions of employers permit the use of ”Merry Christmas” without any problem at all.

I’ve tried to think about the greetings I received this year over the telephone, via email, at the cash register, and as I entered a place of business. “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” were the most frequent. Occasionally, “Season’s Greetings.” But I also heard: “Have a blessed day”; “The blessings of the season”; “God bless you”; “Blessings to you and your family”; “Peace”; “Have a joyous holiday”; and things similar.

All could be construed as having religious connotations. But firing employees for using them? Forbidding any greeting other than “Happy Holidays”? Perhaps employers will win the right to do so, but it’ll be a Pyrrhic victory.