At my workplace, the normal work schedule that is agreed to upon hire is Monday - Friday. With Christmas Eve falling on a Wednesday and Christmas Day falling on a Thursday, the paid holidays will fall on these 2 days as well. Management has decided that instead of coming back in for Friday at the end of the week, the employees will work on Sunday. Management did not ask for the employees' opinions on this matter.

So my question is this - Can a factory mandate a person to work on Sunday if they are normally closed on Sunday? (especially if it conflicts with religious commitments)

Short answer. Yes. The employer is not required to get the employees' opinion.

Religious "committments" may or may not be an issue. If your religion, for example, states that you may NOT work on Sunday (you may be required to provide documentation from your church), you may ask for an accommodation; maybe another employee would be willing to trade with you. However, if it is just your wish to not work on Sunday, the employer does not have to take that into consideration.

Afriend of mine that is a Liutenant for a local police department said that if you ask to have it off due to religious practices, they cannot legally terminate you.

That is not correct. While an employer does have an obligation to provide a reasonable accomodation for religious reasons when it does not provide an undue hardship, asking for a religious accomodation is not a blanket protection from termination.

Agreed.

http://www.eeoc.gov/types/religion.html