Category: Religious Discrimination

Reasoning that discrimination based on an employer’s perception of an employee’s religion is no different than discrimination because of an employee’s actual religion, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan recently permitted an employee’s perceived religion discrimination claims to proceed to trial. Kallabat v. Michigan Bell Tel. Co., No. 2:2012-cv-15470 (E.D. Mich. June 18, 2015). Basil Kallabat began working...

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Abercrombrie & Fitch's refusal to hire a Muslim job applicant who wore a religious head scarf to a job interview violated Title VII.  EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., U.S., No. 14-86, 10/2/14. The case arose after a 17 year old applicant wore a hijab - a religious head scarf - to an interview for a position in Abercrombie's Tulsa, Oklahoma store. During the interview, the...

Vickie Fisher was employed as the Co-Director of Gate of Heaven Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery owned and operated by Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  In fall 2010, a cemetery employee complained to the Archdiocese that Fisher and her compatriot were part of a scheme to sell damaged grave markers for scrap metal and distribute the cash proceeds to Gate of Heaven employees.  It was also alleged Fisher was using profanity in her dealings with employees. ...

Business trips are a fact of life for many employees.  Reserving hotel rooms for these trips is commonplace: either the employee or a company representative contacts the hotel, and the hotel then arranges a room for that guest based on its current availability.  In spite of this, a disgruntled individual recently tried to sue his former company based on little more than the room he was assigned during one such trip in Rahman v. Crystal Equation,...