It is very important for employers to not commit wrongful religious discrimination against job applicants and employees. Such discrimination can be very harmful to an employee or job applicant. No employee should have to face such discrimination at their place of work and no job applicant should have to face such discrimination when applying for a position.
Recently, a religious discrimination case in Missouri has been settled. The case involved a man who applied for a job at a call center of a company. The call center is reportedly located in Hazelwood, Missouri. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged that the company committed wrongful religious discrimination against the man.
According to the EEOC, during an interview for the job, the man (who is a Hebrew Israelite) told the recruiter who was interviewing him that he could not work on Saturdays because of his religious beliefs. The EEOC alleged that the recruiter did not discuss possible accommodations for the man’s religious beliefs, but instead told the man that, unless he could work on Saturdays, the interview was over. According to the EEOC, these alleged actions constituted unlawful religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The EEOC brought a lawsuit against the above-mentioned company in connection to these allegations. A settlement was recently reached in regards to this lawsuit. According to a press release on the EEOC’s website, under the terms of the settlement, the company will make a monetary payment and take steps such as providing anti-discrimination training to its recruiters.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Convergys Settles EEOC Suit for Religious Discrimination,” Feb. 16, 2012