Apple Inc. will pay $150,000 and update its religious-observance policies to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
EEOC said the litigation resulted from Apple’s refusal to grant a Jewish employee time off for sabbath observances because the request conflicted with new weekend scheduling requirements.
The lawsuit also accused the store manager who denied the request of later firing the same employee because of his Jewish faith and for complaining about the manager’s antisemitic remarks.
“Accommodating an employee’s religious beliefs is not optional — it is an obligation mandated by federal law in the absence of an undue hardship,” said Debra Lawrence, an attorney with EEOC’s Philadelphia religion. “We appreciate Apple’s willingness to work cooperatively with the EEOC to resolve this matter and take affirmative steps to ensure compliance with federal law.”
EEOC filed the litigation in September claiming Apple violated the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, according to HR Dive.
The human resources publication identified the employee as a 16-year veteran of Apple’s store in Reston, Va., and said the worker had requested to be off on Fridays and Saturdays for religious reasons.
“Apple ‘denied and continues to deny the Commission’s allegations,’ according to the joint motion for a consent decree,” HR Dive reported.
According to EEOC, the two-year decree requires Apple to pay $80,000 in back compensation and $70,000 in compensatory damages to the former employee. Apple also must implement a religious observance policy mandating that managers provide written explanations to employees when accommodations are denied.
Apple also agreed to provide training to human resources personnel and store managers about federal civil rights laws governing religious accommodation.
“No employee should be forced to choose between their faith and their livelihood,” said Mindy Weinstein, director of the EEOC’s Washington field office.
Although this case is more traditional, the litigation against Apple is part of a larger push by the Trump EEOC to push companies on faith-related issues, many of them having to do with vaccine and masking issues dating back to the pandemic.
In June, Kaiser Permanente agreed to pay $358,000 to settle a dozen claims against the health care provider for failing to grant employee vaccine exemptions on religious grounds.
EEOC over the past six months has announced similar agreements with an Oklahoma manufacturing firm ($4.2 million), a Chicago-area hospital group ($325,000) and with an unidentified global electronics company ($15 million), among others. In May, the agency announced it had filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against a Chick-fil-A franchise in Texas.