Friday, May 20, 2022

Employee Sues After Being Fired For Religious Objection To Rainbow As Gay Pride Symbol

Suit was filed this week in an Iowa federal district court by a former employee of a metal engineering and manufacturing company who says he was fired for expressing his Christian beliefs. The complaint (full text) in Snyder v. Arconic, Inc., (SD IA, filed 5/18/2022), charges religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII and state law. It alleges:

In June 2021, in attempting to respond to an anonymous company survey, Mr. Snyder briefly commented that the company’s use of the rainbow to promote “Gay Pride Month” was “an abomination to God,” as the rainbow “is not meant to be a sign for sexual gender.”

... Arconic informed Mr. Snyder that his comment had been posted publicly on the company “intranet”—which was not Mr. Snyder’s intent—and that it had offended a fellow employee. Mr. Snyder was summarily suspended and then terminated, allegedly for violating the company’s “diversity policy.”

Thomas More Society issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.