Restaurant Refused to Honor Accommodation and Fired Employee Because of His Religion, Federal Agency Charges
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Suncakes, LLC, a Texas-based company doing business as IHOP, violated federal law when it required an employee to work on Sundays despite a previously granted religious accommodation, and then fired him when he attempted to exercise his federally protected rights, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Suncakes hired a cook at its Woodlawn Road location in Charlotte in January 2021. At the time of hire, the employee requested and was granted a religious accommodation of not working on Sundays to honor his religious observances. After a change in management in April 2021, the new general manager expressed hostility toward the accommodation and required the employee to work on Sunday, April 25 and Sunday, May 9. After the May 9 shift, the employee told the general manager he would not be working the following Sunday. The general manager refused to allow the employee to work his next scheduled shift and fired him. The manager then made comments to other employees such as, “religion should not take precedence over [the employee’s] job”” and that the employee “thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills.”
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