The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued The Cogar Group Ltd., a Fairfax, Virginia-based security services company, alleging the firm forced a security guard to choose between his job and attending Sunday church services. The employee, a disabled veteran and Baptist deacon, had worked part-time in New Orleans with Sundays off since March 2021, according to the EEOC.
In February 2024, The Cogar Group allegedly told the security guard his schedule would change to require Saturday and Sunday work. The employee informed his supervisor the new schedule would interfere with his religious beliefs because his faith requires him to attend church on Sundays, the EEOC said.
The company refused to alter the schedule to accommodate his religious obligations, allegedly forcing the security guard to resign, according to the EEOC's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
"Federal law entitles employees to accommodations for their religious practices," said Michael Kirkland, director of the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office, according to the agency's press release. "Absent undue hardship, it is unlawful for an employer to force an employee to choose between his religious practice and his job."
The lawsuit alleges violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from failing to accommodate religious practices unless an accommodation would impose an undue hardship. The EEOC filed the case after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
"When it is feasible for an employer to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs, but it chooses not to, the employer violates Title VII," said Jacqueline Barber, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office, according to the press release.