Texas Religion Discrimination Lawsuit

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a September 25, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-25-09e.html that agency attorneys filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a Fort Worth CD and DVD manufacturer alleging that the company failed to accommodate an employee’s schedule so that she could observe her Sabbath and then fired her.  According to the EEOC Press Release, the discrimination lawsuit contends that the company initially allowed the employee, who is a member of the Soldiers of the Cross of Christ Church,  to work Sunday through Thursday - which accommodated her Sabbath observance from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday.  However, the company changed the work requirements and would no longer allow her to work that schedule, as stated in the Press Release.  EEOC attorneys charge in the case that when she asked for an alternate schedule, she was allegedly told by Human Resources that if the company accommodated her, they would have to accommodate “every Christian,” and she was then fired. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits 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.  An EEOC trial attorney quoted in the Press Release said, in part, that “This devout woman, who is also a missionary, should not have been put in the harsh position of having to forsake her religious beliefs for a schedule change.”  EEOC attorneys filed the religious discrimination lawsuit in North Texas after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.

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