Facts

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a complaint against Maita Chevrolet Geo on behalf of Anthony Okon, alleging employment discrimination due to his practice of the Seventh Day Adventist faith. His religion calls for the observance of the Sabbath, which forbids secular work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that the employee and his pastor informed defendant that the employee could not work Friday evenings and Saturdays during the daytime because of his religion. However, plaintiff contended, defendant repeatedly scheduled the employee for those time periods. Further, defendant refused to allow the employee to work on Sundays if he missed a Saturday workday.

Plaintiff also contended that defendant harassed the employee because of his religious practices and beliefs. Moreover, that defendant disciplined the employee for taking a leave of absence to observe the Sabbath. Then, the defendant terminated the employee because of his observance of his religion. Thus, defendant engaged in unlawful employment practices by discriminating against the employee based on religion, and failing to accommodate the employee's practice of his religion.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTION: Defendant denied the allegations by the EEOC and intervenor. Defendant contended that Okon was conflicted about his religious obligations and gave conflicting accommodation demands to Maita Chevrolet, which were repeatedly granted. Nevertheless, Okon regularly showed up to work on the Sabbath when not scheduled to do so. Defendant claimed Okon was evicted from his home and was in the process of moving his family out of the area, when he stopped coming to work. As a result, his employment relationship with Maita Chevrolet ended.

Result

The parties agreed to enter into a Consent Decree whereby Maita Chevrolet agreed to pay Okon $158,000 in settlement of the charges. Maita Chevrolet was also enjoined from discriminating or retaliating against its employees based on their religion. It also agreed to revise its personnel policy manual to ensure compliance with the law regarding discrimination based on religion. The company also agreed to provide training to its staff, and to keep records of those training sessions.