BEND, Ore. — State labor officials have ordered a dentist to pay nearly $348,000 to settle allegations that he threatened to fire a dental assistant unless she attended a Scientology-related training session. The Bureau of Labor and Industries contends Andrew W. Engel repeatedly “badgered” Susan Muhleman about the three-day conference despite her concerns that it would conflict with her Christian beliefs. He also turned down her request to attend secular training instead, investigators said.
As a result, Muhleman quit AWE Dental Spa in August 2009 — weeks before the conference — and moved out of state to find a job, the state agency said.
Muhleman said she was opposed to going to the Scientology conference but worried about losing her job at the height of the recession, when the local unemployment rate was about 15 percent.
She was the only person in her family employed full time, she said.
“It weighed very heavy on me to have to make a decision like that for the future of my family,” she said.
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