The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Greenville, NC business for religious discrimination against atheist and agnostic employees.
As the EEOC press release of yesterday tells us:
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, since at least June 2020, the company required all employees to attend daily employer-led Christian prayer meetings. The meetings were conducted by the company owner and included Bible readings, Christian devotionals, and solicitation of prayer requests from employees. Aurora’s owner took roll before some of the meetings and reprimanded employees who did not attend. When a construction manager asked to be excused from the prayer portion of the meetings in the fall of 2020, the defendant company refused to accommodate the employee’s religious beliefs (atheist), cut his pay, and fired him. A few months later, in January 2021, Aurora terminated a customer service representative who stopped attending the prayer meetings because the meetings conflicted with her religious beliefs (agnostic).
Julia Marnin, writing for McClatchy Newspapers, gives additional details:
His boss told him “he did not have to believe in God, and he did not have to like the prayer meetings, but he had to participate” before the worker was fired in the fall of 2020, according to a complaint filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Greensboro-based business. This came after his pay was cut in half. The worker was asked to lead a prayer session on one occasion, despite making his beliefs known, prior to losing his job with Aurora Pro Services, the EEOC said. [...]
The complaint’s description of the daily practices is, to be honest, disgusting:
The daily prayer sessions involved workers gathering in a circle as the company’s owner or another individual would pray, the complaint said. Occasionally, the leader of the session would ask for prayer requests. Sometimes, these requests were “offered for poor performing employees” who were called out for mistakes in front of their colleagues, according to the EEOC. When it came to the meeting’s Bible readings, the former customer service representative said it came off as “ranting” and eventually, her boss began having everyone chant “the Catholic version of the Lord’s Prayer in unison,” the complaint said.
Aurora’s website makes no mention of this required behavior where employment is concerned, but (ironically) it includes this pledge:
We believe you should feel respected.
We’ll never hire rude people, and we will get rid of anybody not using their best manners.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
(Brief theological note: Let’s get real here — neither belief nor faith can be compelled, so forcing employees to participate in these events is little more than public posturing of the very sort condemned by the Sermon on the Mount. Anyone who thinks differently is welcome to read
Matthew 6:5-8 and tell me how it’s wrong.)
As one might expect, the EEOC’s attempts to resolve this dispute through settlement talks failed, necessitating legal action for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; that statute prohibits religious discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace. The EEOC is asking for both compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the two employees, as well as an injunction against the company to end any ongoing discrimination and prevent future conduct along these lines.
Let’s hope that the EEOC wins substantial monetary relief for these employees, and that any future zealotry by Aurora is enjoined by the District Court.