EEOC Wins Suit On Behalf of Fired Jehovah's Witness

The EEOC announced yesterday that a New York federal district court has entered a consent decree in a religious discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of a Jehovah's Witness who was fired as an administrative assistant at a Manhattan pediatric medical practice:

Pediatrics 2000 was aware that its worker was a Jehovah’s Witness when she was hired and initially accommodated her request not to work on Wednesdays due to her religious practices on that day. But then the company demonstrated animus toward her religion, saying that her religion was a “cult,” and placed her on probation for “missing” work on Wednesdays. When the worker requested to be excused from the company’s holiday party for religious reasons, she was fired — even though other employees were permitted to miss the party for non-religious reasons....

The decree gives $68,000 in lost wages and other damages for the worker and grants injunctive relief, including: the creation of anti-discrimination policies and procedures....

Companies Enter Consent Decree In EEOC Suit Challenging Head-Covering Policy

The EEOC announced yesterday the entry of a consent decree under which the Memphis (TN)- based Versant Supply Chain, Inc. and the Dallas(TX)-based AT&T Services, Inc. have agreed to pay $150,000 to victims of religious discrimination. The companies had enforced policies that prohibit employees from wearing any head coverings (except knit caps). It refused to make accommodations for religious head coverings such as hijabs. The companies also agreed to make policy changes.

Court Upholds $1.8M Award For Religiously Hostile Work Environment

In EEOC v. United Health Programs of America, Inc., (ED NY, March 6, 2020), a New York federal district court, in a 74-page opinion, upheld a jury verdict, as subsequently reduced by the court to $1.778 million, in a suit charging an employer with creation of a hostile religious work environment. The court said in part:

In the fall of 2007, defendants’ CEO, Robert Hodes, hired his aunt, Denali Jordan, who introduced religious and spiritual practices and teachings to the workplace. Defendants’ supervisors and officers, including Denali, imposed certain practices and beliefs, often referred to as “Onionhead” and “Harnessing Happiness,” on plaintiffs.....

[A]mple evidence in the record established that numerous religious images and practices permeated the office environment, and that employees were required to participate in such religious practices. Among other things, defendants’ office environment was cluttered with pervasive religious imagery, including rosary beads, Buddhas, and Onionhead/Harnessing Happiness literature, posters and banners; employees were given Onionhead feeling and truth cards and Onionhead workshop materials and instructed to use them; employees were strongly encouraged or instructed to wear Onionhead pins; employees were scheduled for attendance and participation at the Onionhead/Harnessing Happiness workshops, which employees understood were mandatory. ... [T]he Onionhead religion motivated certain idiosyncratic office practices, including the dismantling of overhead lights, use of candles, incense, and table lamps, hugging and kissing of coworkers, praying and meditation, and coworkers being directed to say “I love you.” All of these practices, taken together,could be found to have “unreasonably interfere[d] with an employee’s work performance” and altered the conditions of an employee’s work environment for the worse.

EEOC Sues Over Harassment of Pentecostal Employees

The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed suit against Service Caster Corp. alleging discrimination and harassment of three employees because of their Puerto Rican national origin and their Pentecostal religion. The complaint (full text) in EEOC v. Service Caster Corp., (ED PA, filed 9/30/2019), alleges in part that the plant manager repeatedly referred to Pentecostalism as a " disgusting cult".

EEOC Sues Over Denial of Religious Accommodation To Messianic Jewish Employee

The EEOC yesterday announced the filing of a lawsuit against Center One, LLC, a call center company:

According to the EEOC's lawsuit ..., a call center employee at Center One's Beaver Falls, Pa., location, who is an adherent of Messianic Judaism, sought a reasonable accommodation of his religious beliefs and practice that he abstain from work on days of religious observance.... Center One imposed disciplinary points against the Messianic Jewish employee for his absences in observance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Center One required that the employee provide a certification from a religious leader or religious organization "on letterhead" as a precondition of granting him time off as a reasonable accommodation and imposed disciplinary points against the Messianic Jewish employee for his absences in observance of those religious holidays...

EEOC Suit Over Insults To Muslim Employees Settled

The EEOC announced  that a consent decree was signed on Tuesday settling a suit against Haliburton Energy Services. The suit charged that two Muslim workers were subjected to taunts and name calling over their religion and national origin. One was fired for complaining about his treatment.  In the consent decree, the company agreed to pay $275,000 in damages. The decree also enjoined future violations and requires training of human resource and managerial employees. (See prior related posting.)

EEOC Sues Over Firing of Jehovah's Witness Employee

The EEOC announced this week that it has filed suit in a New York federal district court against Pedidatrics 2000 for religious discrimination in firing a Jehovah's Witness employee.  When the employee requested not to attend a December holiday party because it would violate her religious practices, she was fired by the health care company's owner who texted her: "[W]e can't tolerate religious privileges from anyone." JD Supra reports on the lawsuit.

EEOC Wins Settlement of Suit Brought On Behalf of Seventh Day Adventists

EEOC last week announced the settlement of a lawsuit it had filed against an  Ooltewah, Tennessee, senior and assisted living community.  Garden Plaza at Greenbriar Cove required two Seventh Day Adventist employees to work on Saturdays, and asked them to resign when they refused to do so.  In the settlement, Garden Plaza will pay $92,586.50 in damages, and enter a 2-year consent decree requiring it to train employees on Title VII matters.

EEOC Wins Settlement For Jehovah's Witness Employee

In a July 31 press release, the EEOC announced that American Medical Response of Tennessee, Inc., a medical transportation service company, has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit filed against it by the EEOC. The company will pay $40,000 in damages for refusing to continue accommodating a Jehovah's Witness employee's request for Sundays off for worship.  The company also entered a 2-year consent decree requiring it to develop a religious accommodation policy and train its employees regarding Title VII.

EEOC Sues McDonald's Franchisee For Failure To Compromise On Grooming Policy

The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit in a Florida federal district court charging the owner of several McDonald's restaurant franchises in central Florida with religious discrimination.  McDonald's grooming policy requires all employees to be clean shaven.  The restaurant refused to grant an accommodation to a Hasidic Jew who was applying for a part-time maintenance position. The job applicant offered to wear a beard net, but said his religious beliefs preclude shaving.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the complaint in EEOC v. Chalfont & Associates Group, Inc., (MD FL, filed 7/16/2019). [Thanks to Tom Rutledge.]

EEOC Sues United Methodist's Global Ministries

The EEOC announced Friday that it has filed a federal lawsuit against  the Atlanta-based Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, claiming that it fired an employee for complaining about racial discrimination. The lawsuit alleges that an employee who was hired to write articles for Global Ministries' website was fired after she complained several times to the human resources department about discriminatory and retaliatory treatment.

Hospital Settles EEOC Suit For Failure To Accommodate Anti-Vaccine Beliefs of Employee

EEOC announced last week that Memorial Healthcare, an Owosso, Michigan hospital, has settled a suit alleging failure to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs, in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. According to the Commission:

Memorial refused to accommodate the sincerely held religious requirement of the transcriptionist, whose Christian beliefs require her to forgo inoculations. The transcriptionist offered to wear a mask during flu season. This was an acceptable alternative under hospital policy for those with medical problems with the flu shot, but Memorial refused to extend it to her. It then rescinded her offer of employment....

Under the consent decree settling the suit, Memorial confirms that it now permits those with religious objections to wear masks in lieu of having a flu vaccine. The hospital will also train managerial staff participating in the accommodation process on the religious accommodation policy. In addition, the transcriptionist will receive $34,418 in back pay, along with $20,000 in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages.

[Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]

EEOC 2018 Data Released

The EEOC yesterday released its 2018 Fiscal Year 2018 Enforcement and Litigation Data.  During the fiscal year, he EEOC resolved 90,558 charges of discrimination and retaliation. Of these, 2,859 (3.7%) involved charges of religious discrimination.

EEOC Moving Toward Insufficient Members For Quorum

National Law Journal yesterday reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is moving toward a scenario in which it will not have a quorum. Currently the 5-member Commission has two vacancies. Also Chair Chai Feldblum's current term is drawing to an end.  Feldblum's renomination and nominations for the two vacant positions have been pending in the Senate for months.  Utah Senator Mike Lee has blocked a vote on Feldblum's renomination because he opposes her advocacy of LGBTQ rights. Meanwhile, Daniel Gade, a nominee for one of the other vacancies says he has withdrawn and accepted another position, though his nomination is still listed on the Senate's executive calendar.

Restaurant Settles EEOC Suit On Dress Code Accommodation

The EEOC last week announced the settlement of a religious discrimination suit it had filed against the operators of a Flowood, Mississippi restaurant, Georgia Blue.  The restaurant agreed to pay $25,000 to settle a complaint by an Apostolic Pentecostal waitress who objected to the company's dress code that required servers to wear blue jean pants.  The company had refused to accommodate her religious beliefs that women should only wear skirts or dresses. The settlement also requires the company to change its employee policies and to provide non-discrimination training to managers.

EEOC Sued Over Enforcement of LGBT Protections Without Religious Exemption

A class action lawsuit was filed last week in a Texas federal district court against the EEOC on behalf of all churches that oppose homosexual or transgender behavior for sincere religious reasons and on behalf of all businesses with similar beliefs.  The complaint (full text) in U.S. Pastor Council v. EEOC, (ND TX, filed 10/6/2018), says that the EEOC interprets Title VII as covering employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, without a religious exemption. It contends that this violates RFRA and the First Amendment.  the suit seeks to enjoin the federal government from interpreting or enforcing Title VII in a manner that requires churches or businesses with religious objections to recognize same-sex marriage or extend spousal benefits to same-sex partners, or to require objecting businesses to allow employees to use rest rooms reserved for persons of the opposite biological sex.  It also asks the court to require that any future EEOC guidance on Title VII's application to gay or transgender individuals include a religious exemption. The lawsuit was filed by the same law firm that has recently filed two challenges to Austin, Texas' anti-discrimination ordinances. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Jeff Pasek for the lead.]

EEOC Sues Over Religious Objections To Flu Shot

The EEOC announced last week that it has filed suit against Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for requiring an employee of the contractor providing food and environmental services to have a flu shot if the employee wished to continue to work there. The employee refused on religious grounds.  In prior years accommodation was provided by allowing employees to wear a protective mask instead.

Court Rejects EEOC's "Pattern or Practice" Claims Against Meat Packer

In EEOC v. JBS USAA, LLC, (D CO, Sept. 24, 2018), a Colorado federal district court in a 95-page opinion issued after a 16-day trial dismissed the EEOC's claims that JBS Swift & Co. meat packers engaged in pattern and practice of discrimination against Muslim employees. The suit claimed that the company had refused to reasonably accommodate Muslim employees' needs during Ramadan to pray and break their fast; that employees were disciplined on the basis of religion, national origin and race; and that JBS retaliated against a group of black, Muslim, Somali employees for opposing discrimination during Ramadan. In rejecting the reasonable accommodation claim, the court said in part:

The EEOC presented numerous instances of employees given verbal or written warnings for “unauthorized breaks” that other evidence indicated may have been in relation to prayer.... But, in spite of JBS’s progressive discipline policy, there was no evidence that any such reprimanded employees were ultimately suspended or terminated as a result of such verbal or written warnings.

Therefore, lacking evidence that any employee suffered a detriment to “compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s . . . religion” in relation to discipline imposed for unscheduled prayer breaks, the Court concludes that the EEOC has failed to prove its claim that JBS’s policy constituted an unlawful pattern or practice of discrimination.

The discriminatory discipline and retaliation claims were rejected on other grounds.

EEOC Sues Over Hostile Treatment of Catholic Employee

The EEOC announced on Thursday that it had filed a Title VII lawsuit against New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian Health alleging a manager's religious harassment of a Catholic employee. According to the press release:

Hackensack was aware of but failed to stop a hostile work environment at its Edison, N.J., facility. Shortly after the employee was hired to perform clinical data analytics work, his manager learned he was Catholic and reacted negatively upon seeing a crucifix in the employee's office. Since then, the manager regularly belittled him, screamed at him, and ridiculed his work in front of others.

Haliburton Sued By EEOC For Religious and National Origin Discrimination

The EEOC announced on Tuesday that it has filed suit against the large multinational Haliburton Energy Services, Inc., charging that the company subjected two of its employees to religious and national origin discrimination.  According to the EEOC:

Hassan Snoubar, of Syrian national origin, began working for Halliburton as an operator-assistant oil field worker.... During his employment, Snoubar, a U.S. citizen, was subjected to taunts and name calling regarding both his national origin and his Muslim religion. He was frequently called derogatory names ... and was accused of being associated with ISIS and terrorism by supervisors and co-workers. Mir Ali, a Muslim co-worker of Indian national origin, was similarly subjected to the hostile environment.

... After being continually criticized about their cultural attire, appearance and even claims that "their people" engaged in bestiality, Snoubar expressed his concerns to management and human resources, but was then fired.