A franchise for the national breakfast restaurant chain IHOP has settled with a cook who filed a complaint after he was asked to work on Sundays in violation of his religious beliefs.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday that a franchise that owns several IHOP restaurants in North Carolina has reached a $40,000 settlement with a former cook fired for declining to work on Sundays so he could go to church.
The unnamed employee began working for Suncakes NC, LLC, in January 2021. He informed management of his religious beliefs and his desire not to work on Sundays upon taking the job.
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While management of the IHOP in Charlotte where he worked initially accommodated him, that changed when new management took over.
The employee was asked to work on Sunday, April 25, 2021, and again two Sundays later. After working those two Sundays, the cook reminded his superior about his religious objection to working on Sundays and indicated that he would not be working the following Sunday. This prompted the general manager to fire him.
The EEOC listed comments made by the general manager suggesting hostility toward the cook’s religion, which was reportedly shared with other employees at the IHOP location. The employer allegedly remarked “religion should not take precedence over [the employee’s] job” and maintained that the cook “thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills.”
Under the settlement reached, Suncakes will pay the cook $40,000 in monetary damages, provide annual training to its managers about the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banning religious discrimination, post notices to employees about the decision, and revise its religious accommodation policies.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 declares it unlawful for an employer “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
The law defines “religion” as “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate any employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”
The settlement comes more than a year after the EEOC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on behalf of the cook.
“Religious discrimination is intolerable,” said trial attorney Taitionna Miles in a statement. “Employers must respect all sincerely held religious beliefs, which includes providing reasonable accommodations when no undue hardship exists.”
Melinda Dugas, a regional attorney in the EEOC’s Charlotte office, noted that “requesting an accommodation for a religious accommodation is protected activity under federal law.”
“Employers are prohibited from taking adverse employment action against an employee for exercising that right,” Dugas said.
A month after the lawsuit was filed in June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of a U.S. postal worker who resigned rather than work on Sundays in violation of his religious beliefs.
In Greg Groff v. Louis DeJoy, the justices vacated a lower court ruling siding against postal worker Greg Groff. Like the IHOP cook, Groff contended that requiring him to work on Sundays violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
