A California trucking company that scheduled a Christian driver to work on Sundays, forcing him to quit, has been sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Blue Eagle Contracting, Inc., a Grass Valley bulk mail delivery contractor for the U.S. Postal Service, is alleged to have violated federal law by failing to return the Christian employee to a weekday shift so he could attend Sunday morning church services, the EEOC stated in an April 3 lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, when the driver was hired in September 2022, he told his supervisors at the company that he needed to attend church on Sundays as part of his Christian practice, and they scheduled him to work a weekday delivery route between Reno and Tonopah, Nevada.
After several months with the company, a co-worker unexpectedly resigned, and the Christian driver volunteered to work a Sunday morning shift until a replacement was hired for the weekend shift. When the replacement was hired, however, the lawsuit alleges that the Christian driver was kept on the weekend shift despite his complaints, and the new hire was assigned the weekday shift.
Christopher Green, district director for the EEOC’s San Francisco District Office, said in a statement, “Employers are bound by federal law to explore a range of possible accommodations to ensure that employees retain their right to freely exercise their faith.”
The situation eventually forced the Christian driver to resign from the company after his supervisors failed to accommodate his Christian beliefs. According to the EEOC, the trucking company’s conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from failing to accommodate the religious practices of their employees, absent undue hardship.
“Employers are required to comply with federal law to prevent discrimination based on religion,” senior EEOC Trial Attorney Mariko Ashley said. “To force employees to choose between exercising their religious beliefs and their livelihoods, absent undue burden on the employer, violates the law and the EEOC will hold employers accountable.”
Just last month, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a new website for its Center for Faith, with resources for Christians and other Americans who might have faced religious discrimination in the workplace. The move fulfilled a portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order that created the White House Faith Office and Centers for Faith within each federal agency.
Through the Center for Faith at the U.S. Department of Labor, faith-based organizations can maximize their participation in grant funding opportunities and minimize regulatory burdens, according to the website. The center also works to engage “faith organizations to defend religious liberty and lift up individuals through the dignity of work and self-sufficiency; and to combat anti-Christian, anti-Semitic bias, as well as all forms of religious discrimination.”
“Americans should not face discrimination in the workplace because of their religion. Our new Center for Faith website offers helpful guidance for American workers and faith organizations interested in competing for grants at the Department of Labor,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. “Thanks to President Trump, Americans’ right to religious freedom is more protected than ever before.”
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