EEOC Gets Settlement In Suit Against Hospital That Refused Leave For Hajj

The EEOC announced this week that a Tennessee federal judge on Monday issued a two-year consent decree settling a religious discrimination lawsuit that the agency had filed against Nashville's Southern Hills Medical Center. The suit alleged that the hospital had refused to permit a Muslim employee to use earned vacation time for an extended leave to make his Pilgrimage to Mecca. It told employee Wali Telwar that instead he would have to resign his position and reapply. (See prior posting.) Under the settlement, Southern Hills will pay $70,000 in damages. The consent decree also enjoins the hospital from refusing to accommodate employees' sincerely held religious beliefs or retaliating against any employee for requesting a religious accommodation. Finally the decree imposes certain record-keeping, posting and reporting requirements in connection with religious accommodations.