The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for denying an employee’s religious accommodation request to wear a head covering as an expression of her Ifa faith.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleges that TDCJ’s refusal to accommodate the employee’s religious practice violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
“Employers cannot require employees to forfeit their religious beliefs or improperly question the sincerity of those beliefs,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is a reminder to all employers of their clear legal obligation to offer reasonable religious accommodations. In our country, employers cannot force an employee to choose between their faith and their job.”
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“Religious discrimination in the workplace will not be tolerated in our district,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas. “TDCJ, like any other employer, must reasonably accommodate employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
According to the lawsuit, Franches Spears, who worked as a non-uniformed clerk in an administrative building, requested to wear a head covering in accordance with the tenets of her religion.
The complaint alleges that even though TDCJ allowed other employees to wear hats and other non-religious head coverings and could have accommodated Spears’ request it refused to do so.
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Instead, TDCJ indefinitely suspended Spears without pay when she would not remove her head covering, impermissibly questioned the sincerity of her faith and ultimately terminated her employment.
The department’s lawsuit seeks to require TDCJ to implement lawful religious accommodation policies and compensate Spears for lost wages and other damages.
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