Apple has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year. Here are the details.
Apple settles religious discrimination lawsuit
Last September, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the company had fired a Virginia Apple Store employee because of his religion and in retaliation for complaints of religious discrimination.
In the lawsuit, the EEOC claimed that despite consistently receiving positive performance reviews, the employee was fired after converting to Judaism and requesting scheduling accommodations “for observing his Sabbath by not working Fridays and Saturdays.”
Apple never publicly commented on the case, and court documents show that the company denied wrongdoing. However, Reuters reported today that the company has now agreed to pay $150,000 to settle the claims.
Top comment by Alex Blok
As a Jew, I don't buy this. You can work on Fridays, until just before dark, when the Sabbath begins. I'm willing to bet there is something else here. Whenever money comes into it, I get suspicious. We need to STOP paying people money and instead simply punish the guilty company if they really did discriminate without good reason. That way, there is NO incentive for employees to make up or exaggerate incidents.
From the settlement consent decree (via Law360):
Within thirty (30) days from the date of entry of the Decree, Defendant shall pay Tyler Steele a total of $150,000 in the amounts and forms specified below:
- a. One payment will be $80,000, which constitutes back pay. This payment will be classified as wages and will be subject to withholdings and payroll taxes. l Defendant’s employer-side taxes and required employer contributions, including those under FICA, are separate from, and shall not be deducted from the back pay payment. Defendant shall report the back pay payment to Mr. Steele and the IRS via an IRS Form W-2, less all legal taxes and withholdings, as issued by Defendant to Mr. Steele.
- b. The second payment will be $70,000, which constitutes compensatory damages and interest. Mr. Steele must provide to Defendant a W9 for Defendant to have an obligation to process this payment. This payment will be classified as non-wage damages, will not be subject to withholdings, and will be paid in one lump sum. Defendant shall report this non-wage payment to Mr. Steele and the IRS via an IRS Form 1099- MISC.
Under the terms of the settlement, Apple has agreed to, among other things, provide training on religious discrimination and accommodation requirements to certain employees in the relevant Northern Virginia retail market, and report denials of religious accommodation requests and complaints of religious discrimination to the EEOC for the two-year duration of the consent decree.
Finally, the consent decree notes that the settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Apple, and explicitly mentions that “Apple denied these allegations but agreed to resolve the lawsuit.”
To learn more about the settlement, follow this link.
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