Shift leader claims forced Bible readings, denied Sunday Mass, fired after joining the military
A former Pizza Hut shift leader in Tennessee says she was harassed over her Catholic faith and pushed out after enlisting in the military.
That is the thrust of a lawsuit filed April 23, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee against Apple American Group LLC, which does business as Pizza Hut. The plaintiff, Tristan Bowman, is currently serving overseas with the U.S. military. She is bringing claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, better known as USERRA.
Bowman worked as a shift leader from around July 2023 until her termination on June 5, 2024. She says she was a hardworking, qualified employee who did her job well. What went wrong, according to the filing, had little to do with her performance and everything to do with her faith and her decision to serve in the military.
Bowman, a practicing Catholic, says her manager repeatedly mocked her beliefs in front of other employees. The filing states she was told she was "going to hell because she's Catholic" and that "she needed to be a housewife." She also says her observance of Ash Wednesday was ridiculed. On several occasions, according to the complaint, she was made to read Bible verses aloud at work in a way she describes as coercive and humiliating.
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