On September 27, 2013, the EEOC settled a case against Maita Chevrolet Geo on behalf of Plaintiff (EEOC v. Maita Chevrolet Geo). It was a religious discrimination case. Plaintiff contended that the employee and his pastor told Maita that the employee could not work Friday evenings and Saturdays during the daytime because of his religion. In response, Plaintiff contended that Maita repeatedly scheduled the employee for those time periods in retaliation. Plaintiff also argued that Maita refused to allow the employee to work on Sundays if he missed a Saturday workday.
Plaintiff also argued that Defendant harassed him because of his beliefs and retaliated against him for taking a leave of absence to observe the Sabbath. Then Maita fired the employee because of his religion.
Defendant had some pretty decent arguments. It argued that Plaintiff made conflicting accommodation requests and Plaintiff repeatedly showed up to work on the Sabbath when not scheduled to do so. It also argued that Plaintiff was fired because he stopped showing up to work, not because of his religion.
Regardless, the parties agreed to a settlement of $158,000. The settlement was observed by Judge Morrison England in USDC Eastern District.