Dive Brief:
- An IHOP owner agreed to pay $40,000 as part of a two-year consent decree to settle a religious discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced Aug. 6 (EEOC v. Suncakes NC, LLC and Suncakes, LLC d/b/a IHOP).
- A general manager at a Charlotte IHOP owned by Suncakes NC, LLC, a North Carolina-based company, and Suncakes, LLC, a Texas-based company doing business as IHOP, allegedly fired a cook after he refused to work Sundays to attend church, a religious accommodation he was given when he was hired, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the complaint. The manager allegedly told other employees religion shouldn’t take precedence over a job and that the worker thinks going to church is more important than paying bills.
- Under the consent decree, Suncakes also will provide annual training to managers on Title VII, notify employees of the settlement and post a revised policy, including protection for religious accommodations, at its 17 locations in North Carolina, according to a news release.
Dive Insight:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars employers from discriminating against workers or candidates because of their religious beliefs during hiring, firing and other conditions of employment. The statute also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for religious beliefs and practices unless it would cause undue hardship for the company.
“Religious discrimination is intolerable,” Taittiona Miles, lead trial attorney for the case, said in a prepared statement. “Employers must respect all sincerely held religious beliefs, which includes providing reasonable accommodations when no undue hardship exists.”
EEOC routinely takes up cases in which workers allege religious discrimination.
In July, a Kentucky-based grocer agreed to pay $40,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit alleging it didn’t hire a Spiritualist Rastafarian whose religious observance requires that he wear dreadlocks. The candidate allegedly had requested a religious accommodation to the company’s personal appearance policy.
And in January, a security services company agreed to a $70,000 settlement of allegations that management ordered a concierge in Chicago who wore a beard as part of his Muslim practice to shave his beard or be fired.