NC Firm Settles Religious Bias Suit

September 24, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A Goldsboro, North Carolina-based construction company will pay $47,500 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

A news release said the EEOC charged that the T.A. Loving Company discriminated against Elvis Cifuentes Angel and two laborers when it fired them for refusing to work on their Sabbath.  Cifuentes Angel and the other laborers are members of the Seventh-Day Adventist faith, which prohibits work on a member’s Sabbath, which runs from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, the EEOC said.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants because of their religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer, the news release pointed out.

In addition to the $47,500 in compensatory damages to be shared between Cifuentes Angel and the two other laborers, the three-year consent decree resolving the case includes injunctions barring T.A. Loving from engaging in further religious discrimination; requires anti-discrimination training; the posting of a notice about the EEOC; and reporting by the company on individuals who have requested religious accommodations or reported religious discrimination to the EEOC for monitoring.

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