Quest Diagnostics to Pay $90,000 in Religious Discrimination Case

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Quest Diagnostics agreed to pay $90,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of a Rockwall-based phlebotomist.

In addition, the company agreed (per the terms of the settlement) to adopt a religious accommodation policy, create new protocols for employee relations and offer annual training within the workplace to employees of the Rockwall location regarding that religious accommodation policy and new protocols.

Case background

The phlebotomist in question is a practicing Seventh-Day Adventist. She requested and received time off to accommodate religious beliefs in her first nine years as an employee of Quest. Practicing members of her faith attend church on Saturdays and avoid secular work and business between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.

During the employee’s 10th year with the company, Quest denied her religious accommodations for the first time. When she did not show up to work he scheduled Saturday shifts, the company then fired her, according to the findings of the ensuing EEOC investigation.

Quest denies any wrongdoing in the case. It claims it has been a company committed to creating a workplace culture that values and recognizes diversity.

Representatives from the EEOC, meanwhile, say the case is an example of how important it is to assess the facts of an applicant’s request for religious accommodation to determine if such an accommodation would truly create an “undue hardship” for that business and its operations.

For more information about how to file a workplace discrimination lawsuit, contact an experienced whistleblower lawyer at Kardell Law Group.

By Steve Kardell | Published June 9, 2022 | Posted in Employee Rights | Tagged discrimination, employment discrimination, religious discrimination

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