NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Most people look forward to the weekend because it means time off from work. But some of the vendors at the Farmers' Market in downtown Nashville say they're being forced to work seven days a week.
As one might imagine, those workers are not too happy about that decision. But they did manage to find a way to get a day off.
Whether it's a crepe, a burger, or a roll you order at the Farmers' Market, the people making and selling food likely are not just workers here. Most of the dozen or so restaurants there are personally run by the business owners themselves and a handful of employees, who oftentimes are family members.
And while these mom-and-pop vendors say they love what they do, some of them recently told the Metro-appointed Farmers' Market Board they can only do so much.
"I’m asking to at least give me one day off," said Joli Yi, the owner of Farmer's Deli and Grill, who pleaded with the board.
You see, the Farmers' Market administrators want the vendors to be open seven days a week. Their lease agreements do say they're supposed to be open every day. But that's never been enforced.
Until now.
"Every tenant at Farmers' Market had a new lease by July 1 of this year requiring them to work seven days a week," Erica Haber with Metro's Legal Department reminded the board.
But many of the vendors have been closed on Sundays for years, for as long as they've been at the Market.
"If you guys are kind enough, please let me get off one day to recuperate my life," Yi continued in her plea for relief.
Yi said she tried to open Sundays, but after working six days straight, she just physically couldn't do it.
"I could not open the restaurant because I break down because I am just overwhelming (sic) and it was too much for me," Yi told the board.
At the Board's November meeting, board members explained the thinking behind the new 7-day enforcement.
"We are trying to create a market that is open seven days a week," board member Alejandro Lorenz said.
They said that to bring in more customers, they need the businesses to be open every day.
"This (the Metro-owned Farmers' Market) is a public asset that we are all working to be good stewards of," board vice chair Will Radford said.
Radford told the vendors many others would love the opportunity to set up shop at the Farmers' Market, so he suggested the vendors follow the rules or else.
"You can move into your own brick and mortar where you can certainly say, 'I want to operate three days a week or five days a week or two days a week,'" Radford told the vendors at the meeting.
But one vendor after another stood up and told the Board, they could not work on Sundays citing their religious beliefs.
"We don’t work on Sunday and we go to church," said Matthew Hancock whose family sells produce at the market.
Hancock told the board having to work seven days a week was a deal breaker.
"We want to be here and we want to work Monday through Saturday, but if the Sunday is a hold up, then we’ll just have to go," he said.
The representative from Music City Crepes explained: "Most of our employees are from the Coptic church and our worship day is Sunday."
The owner from Bowl and Roll added to the debate, saying: "I go to church. It is very important in my life."
There was a lot of push back though as board members and attorneys from Metro Legal asked why other employees couldn't open on Sunday.
Board member Alejandro Lorenz asked the representatives from Bowl and Roll: "And all of employees are the same religion?"
"Yes," they replied.
Lorenz then suggested the vendors open after church, asking: "It’s not convenient for you to come after church at 2 o’clock on Sunday and work until six?"
The vendors said it was not.
The board also challenged those who said they do come in on Sundays, not to sell food, but to prepare for the coming week.
Theresa Costonis with Metro's Legal Department wondered: "You mentioned that you do the grocery shopping and you clean on Sundays. So it is consistent with your religion to do some work on Sunday? Is that right?"
The vendors were clearly frustrated.
One representative from Bowl and Roll explained: "We came all the way from Korea to get out of the Korean conflict. We are still at war. We want to freedom to work, freedom to go to church on Sunday. That’s it. That is all we are asking."
But in the end, the vendors got what they wanted as the board approved their request for Sundays off, acknowledging a recent Supreme Court decision that requires religious accommodations. But it was clear it wasn't their preference.
"We still support absolutely the seven-day-a-week work ethic. But this is a constitutional right that supersedes that," Theresa Costonis with Metro Legal said.
Now only vendors who file grievances and request Sundays off for religious reasons will be allowed that day off. Everyone else will still be required to be open seven days a week.
The board did vote at the meeting to reduce the hours the vendors must be open, citing business trends. The required hours used to be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Now it's 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates did find it interesting that while vendors are told to be open seven days a week, we spotted a sign on the door of the Farmers' Market administrative offices — where the director and other staff work — says they are only there and open four days a week.
