• 23
  • November
    2011

When employees are fired, they often see the reason for that firing from their own perspective, which sometimes does not reflect the employer's reasoning. When an employee feels that their termination was wrongful, they may accuse the former employer of discrimination and retaliation.

In an interesting case recently been filed in federal court in Rome, an employee of a Evansville, Ind.-based plastics manufacturer with a North Georgia plant has accused his employer of firing him in retaliation for exercising his religious beliefs.

The issue arose because of a safety campaign in which the manufacturer hoped to motivate workers at the North Georgia plant by keeping track of the number of days the plant had remained accident-free. Each day, employees were issued stickers to wear printed with that day's number, and the employees were required to wear them.

In March 2010, the number of accident-free days at the plant approached 666, which some religious Christians associate with "the mark of the beast" in the Book of Revelation.

One employee notified the company that he would not wear the sticker on day 666 because, according to the lawsuit, his "sincere religious belief is that to wear the number 666 would be to accept the mark of the beast and to be condemned to hell." At the time he notified the company, he was told his religious beliefs would be accommodated.

When the 666th accident-free day arrived and the worker refused to wear the sticker, however, his supervisor allegedly said his religious beliefs were "ridiculous" and the worker was suspended for three days for "refusing to work" on the 666th day. After the third day of the suspension, he was told he should stay home until a meeting with his supervisors. During that meeting, the worker was fired.

This will certainly be an interesting case to watch. The company has declined to comment, so little information is available about what happened from the company's point of view. Was the an exemplary worker with satisfactory performance reviews before the incident? Did he, in fact, refuse to work on the 666th day?

The man apparently filed a complaint with the EEOC, but the agency released his claim but granted him a "right to sue" letter in August. His lawsuit seeks front and back pay as well as compensatory damages and has specifically requested a trial by jury

Source: Business Insurance magazine, "Suit claims worker was fired for refusing to wear '666' sticker," Matt Dunning, Nov. 21, 2011