Dive Brief:
- California-based Martinez Animal Hospital agreed to pay $20,000 to a former employee for alleged retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday.
- The hospital allegedly fired a worker who objected to mandatory training that contained religious content that was against his beliefs and who asked to be excused from future training of the same nature, EEOC said. The worker was terminated days later, the agency said.
- “I expressed my concerns to management over training I was required to attend and was soon fired,” the worker said in a prepared statement. “I’m very glad the EEOC defended my right to speak up and ask for a religious accommodation, such as an exemption from religious-based content that made me uncomfortable.” Martinez Animal Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dive Insight:
Such alleged action violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits retaliation by an employer as a result of a worker engaging in protected activity like asking for a religious accommodation, per EEOC.
Title VII requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees with sincerely held religious beliefs as long as the accommodation wouldn’t cause the company undue hardship.
“We commend Martinez Animal Hospital for their commitment to preventing any future retaliation,” Carlos Rocha, director of EEOC’s Oakland office, said in the news release. “This case should serve as a reminder for employers to train supervisors and representatives to recognize what may constitute protected activity under federal [equal employment opportunity] laws and how to respond in a way that does not interfere with workers’ rights.”
As a result of EEOC’s investigation, the agency and the hospital participated in EEOC’s pre-litigation conciliation process and reached a settlement.
Per the agreement, the hospital will provide back pay and compensatory damages to the worker; update its nondiscrimination policies; hold trainings for all workers, managers and human resources professionals; display a notice about EEO rights in English and Spanish; document all accommodation requests; and report to EEOC for two years.
EEOC regularly takes up cases involving religious accommodations in the workplace — a focus that may be ramping up this year.
In another case from November 2022, the agency reached a $305,000 settlement with United Airlines after the airline allegedly refused to allow a Buddhist pilot who was diagnosed as alcohol dependent to attend Refuge Recovery meetings, which are based on Buddhist principles, instead of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which are held in churches and begin with a prayer, in order to obtain a Federal Aviation Administration medical certificate needed to fly again.