EEOC Sues Company For Religious Discrimination In Hiring

The EEOC announced Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Oklahoma charging a Nebraska-based lighting products supplier with violating Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by refusing to hire an applicant at its Tulsa (OK) location because of his religious beliefs.  According to the release:

... Voss Lighting, advertised a vacancy for an “operations supervisor”  position through the website of the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, the  church attended by the incumbent manager.  Although he did not himself attend the church,  Edward Wolfe, who had prior management experience, learned about the vacancy  and applied for the position.  The Voss manager  met with Wolfe and recommended him to the branch manager for an interview.  Throughout the application process, both managers  made numerous inquiries, both subtle and overt, into Wolfe’s religious  activities and beliefs.  They asked Wolfe  to identify every church he has attended over the past several years; where and  when he was “saved” and the circumstances that led up to it; and whether he  “would have a problem” coming into work early to attend Bible study before clocking in.