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The
EEOC announced that a Satisfaction of Judgment was entered in U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonesboro
Division, in a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the federal
agency against communications giant AT&T, Inc. on behalf of two
male customer service technicians who were suspended and fired for
attending a Jehovah's Witnesses Convention. AT&T paid a total of
$1,307,597 pursuant to the judgments entered in the case.
In
October 2007, a jury of nine women and three men awarded the two former
employees, Jose Gonzalez and Glenn Owen (brothers-in-law), $296,000 in
back pay and $460,000 in compensatory damages under Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act. During the four-day trial, the jury heard evidence
that both men had submitted written requests to their manager in
January 2005 for one day of leave to attend a religious observance that
was scheduled for Friday July 15 to Sunday July 17, 2005. Both men
testified that they had sincerely held religious beliefs that required
them to attend the Jehovah's Witness convention each year. Both men had
attended the convention every year throughout their employment with
AT&T. Gonzalez worked at the company for more than eight years and
Owen was employed there for nearly six years.
The case was tried
in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonesboro
Division (Case No. 3:06-cv-00176), before Judge Leon Holmes. AT&T
appealed the jury verdict to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The
Eighth Circuit sided with the EEOC and upheld the jury verdict. The
amount awarded by the jury at trial grew to $1,307,597 with the
inclusion of interest and front pay. Judge Holmes granted the EEOC's
request for an injunction prohibiting AT&T from engaging in any
employment practice which discriminates on the basis of religion.
"These
two employees never should have had to choose between their jobs and
their sincerely held religious beliefs," said EEOC Acting Chairman
Stuart J. Ishimaru. "With increased religious diversity in the
workplace, employers need to be extra vigilant in guarding against
discrimination based on religion."
Title VII prohibits religious
discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations
to employees' and applicants' sincerely held religious beliefs, as long
as this does not pose an undue hardship.
EEOC Supervisory Trial
Attorney William A. Cash, Jr., who tried the case with agency attorney
Darin Tuggle, said, "These were two outstanding employees who simply
should have been allowed to attend the Jehovah's Witnesses Convention
as they had done during their employment with AT&T. When employers
or management officials attempt to make an example out of employees by
discriminating against them, as was done in this case, there is a high
price to pay."
EEOC Regional Attorney Faye A. Williams of the
agency's Memphis District Office, which has jurisdiction for Arkansas,
remarked, "We are pleased that this matter is now over and these
gentlemen may now move forward with their lives. These men took a stand
against a large employer for their sincerely held religious beliefs,
and justice has prevailed."
According to company information,
AT&T is the largest provider of both local and long distance
telephone services, DSL Internet access and wireless service in the
United States, with 74.9 million wireless customers and more than 150
million total customers.
Religious discrimination charge filings
(allegations) reported to EEOC offices nationwide have substantially
increased from 1,388 in Fiscal Year 1992 to 3,283 in FY 2008.
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