First Liberty Institute made the request on behalf of Paige Rogers. According to the press release, she is a sophomore at Boyce College, a Christian university in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked part-time as a barista.
Cliff Martin, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, says Rogers was fired last October from Heine Brothers, a Louisville coffee shop chain, because of her religious beliefs about marriage and other sensitive topics.
"We've asked the EEOC to look into this," Martin says. "She was asked questions about her faith by other employees. She respectfully and honestly answered those questions, and when the employer learned of this, they fired her."
There was no acknowledgement that Roger’s coworkers were the ones to open the conversation in the first place. However, the employers made it clear that her sudden termination was because of her religious beliefs.
Martin says that's not legal, as Title VII prevents Americans from being punished by their employers for holding or expressing religious beliefs.
"They failed to honor that," Martin says. "Instead, they terminated her by text message, without an interview, without listening to Paige Rogers' side of the story at all."
Prior to its request for the EEOC to investigate, First Liberty sent a demand letter requesting that Heine Brothers preserve all relevant evidence. As of Friday, First Liberty had not received a response from Heine Brothers.
"They've made no attempt to reach out and resolve the situation," Martin says.
AFN is seeking comment from Heine Brothers.
Meanwhile, the EEOC will have at least 60 days at which it can choose to investigate further. The EEOC can also issue a right to sue letter in some cases if the EEOC does not want to take the action forward.
"We're hopeful that this one will get the EEOC's attention," Martin says. "They have been very good about protecting religious employees from discrimination, and here this seems like a very obvious case of religious discrimination. So, we're hopeful that the EEOC will want to take action."
