I am the only Christian in my work group. I am surprised that they are making me work on Christmas Day. I am curious if other find this surprising, or not surprising.
Years ago, I worked in a job where there were recurring tasks that needed to be performed every day of the year, holidays included. During the time I was with this organization, I worked on Thanksgiving and another guy worked on Christmas.
The point being just that, yeah, there are some jobs that need people present all the time. Sad but true. If you feel you are being singled out in some unjust way, discussing it with management or HR or whomever seems appropriate. If you just somehow got picked at random, it would be reasonable to ask to switch -- maybe you can volunteer for the next holiday -- but a lot of people expect Christmas off, regardless of personal beliefs, so there might not be anyone willing to trade. :-)
Did you apply for/announce leave in advance or were you just expecting to be off that day?
I'd personally prefer my employer to not track the religions of its employees and then feed that to whatever people and software they have doing scheduling. I'd be more surprised (not pleasantly) if they did that than if I got scheduled for work on solstice.
The point being just that, yeah, there are some jobs that need people present all the time. Sad but true. If you feel you are being singled out in some unjust way, discussing it with management or HR or whomever seems appropriate. If you just somehow got picked at random, it would be reasonable to ask to switch -- maybe you can volunteer for the next holiday -- but a lot of people expect Christmas off, regardless of personal beliefs, so there might not be anyone willing to trade. :-)