REFUSED TO ACCOMMODATE A “SPIRITUALIST RASTAFARIAN”
Houchens Food Group, a Kentucky-based owner of “retail grocery, convenience, and hardware stores,” along with some “quick service restaurants,” recently settled a religious discrimination case filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $40,000.
Apparently, the company denied a “Spiritualist Rastafarian” a religious accommodation when they refused to hire an individual because he sported his hair in dreadlocks – a style prohibited by the company’s “personal appearance policy.”
Because it believed that policy violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Houchens Food Group, d/b/a Hometown IGA, Case No. 6:22-cv-00235-REW-HAI) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, London Division.
In addition to monetary relief (which will go to the impacted individual), the company has agreed to modify its policies and practices and will regularly report to the EEOC over the course of a three-year period.
By way of a written statement, Kenneth L. Bird, the EEOC’s regional attorney in Indianapolis, noted that, “An employer’s personal appearance policy does not change its obligation to try to accommodate the religious beliefs of its employees and applicants …. This case is an important reminder that Title VII protects all sincerely held religious beliefs and applicants and employees alike.”
That lawsuit sure got hairy.
# # #