Seventh Day Adventist Fired

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace religious discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to employees’ and applicants’ sincerely held religious beliefs as long as this does not pose an undue hardship.  In this regard, attorneys for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a July 20, 2009 EEOC Press Release that an elder care facility in White Hall, Arkansas will pay $24,000.00 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC in Arkansas.  According to the EEOC Press Release, EEOC attorneys charged that the elder care facility denied a religious accommodation to a certified nursing assistant and fired her because of her religious beliefs.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-20-09.html .  As stated in the Press Release, the certified nursing assistant, who had worked at the White Hall facility for over a year, is a Seventh Day Adventist, and her Sabbath is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday evening.  Her religious beliefs prohibit her from working on her Sabbath.  After accommodating her for over a year, the facility suddenly refused to allow the employee to take off on her Sabbath and then terminated her employment, according to the Press Release.  An EEOC attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “An employee should not be forced to choose between her religion and her job [and] this case demonstrates the EEOC’s commitment to combat religious discrimination in the workplace.”  

Over the past decade, religion-based charge filings with EEOC offices nationwide have almost doubled, from 1,786 in Fiscal Year 1998 to 3,273 in Fiscal Year 2008.  In this regard, further information about the EEOC and religion discrimination may be found at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether workplace religious discrimination occurs in Texas or elsewhere, victims of employment related religious discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney or lawyer to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential employment discrimination claim.