After more than eight months since four Seventh-day Adventists were fired by a railroad station in Bessarabka, Moldova, for refusing to work on Saturday, the day of worship for Adventists, the country’s top appeals court overturned the decision of both local and regional courts that previously affirmed the religious rights of workers in the nation.

Railway officials said that Adventists breached the country’s labor laws. According to Mihaela Copots, communication director for the church in the region, the workers were not only fired, but had negative evaluations placed in their permanent work records, making it difficult to obtain other jobs.

The four Adventists involved in the case are Elena Solokhina, Elena Tarachilo, Sergei Dobrovolski, and Nadeshda Gyumshli. According to local sources, the Bessarabka section of the Moldova railroad and the labor union made a joint decision to fire the four.

Sergiu Latco, director of the State Service for Cults Affairs, says that legislation grants religious freedom for all faith groups and calls on the company to rehire the workers.

“We are surprised by the recent ruling,” says Valery Ivanov, communication director for Adventists in Euro-Asia. “According to our church leaders in Moldova, their national constitution gives religious believers the right to observe holy days. The final outcome of this case could affect not only Adventists but also devout believers of many faiths.”

Church leaders in Moldova have requested a written decision, which the court has 15 days to present, and plan to appeal to Moldova’s chief prosecutor. If this attempt is unsuccessful, according to Copots, the church will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

A small Eastern European nation between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova has some 12,000 Adventists, more per capita than in any other Euro-Asia country.