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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
A steel mill services company has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a religious discrimination case filed by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which a worker complained he was not permitted to go church regularly.
The EEOC said Wednesday that before Daniel Bewley, a Christian, accepted a job offer as a laborer at Pittsburgh-based Magnetics International Inc.’s Burn Harbor, Ind., facility, he was told he would not be required to work consecutive Sundays. He told the company he could not work because of his church obligations.
However, “Magnetics forced Bewley to choose between working the scheduled Sunday shift and losing his job, and ultimately terminated his employment,” said the EEOC in its statement. “The company refused to attempt a reasonable accommodation, as federal law requires, and which would have prevented this problem.”
EEOC trial attorney Jonathan Bryant said Mr. Bewley worked for Magnetics for less than two weeks before his termination.
In addition to the $30,000 fine, the consent decree settling the lawsuit requires Magnetics to track and respond appropriately to requests for religious accommodation for the next three years; post a nondiscrimination policy; train its employees on nondiscrimination; and report to the EEOC on progress in this area, the EEOC said.
The company’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Earlier this year, the EEOC reported a 9.5% increase in religious discrimination claims, to 4,151 in fiscal 2011, compared with the previous year. However, many of these were motivated by perceived anti-Muslim bias.
CINCINNATI—A Seventh-day Adventist who was fired after refusing to be on call Friday night and Saturday for religious reasons can pursue her religious discrimination suit against the university that fired her, a federal appellate court ruled.