Dive Temporary:
- New York Metropolis-based Hungry Ghost Espresso pays $22,500 to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee alleging that it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it refused to let a Muslim barista change shifts throughout Ramadan to accommodate his spiritual observe of fasting after which fired him as a result of he requested an lodging, EEOC introduced Tuesday.
- Per the criticism in EEOC v. Hungry Ghost Tribeca, LLC, d/b/a Hungry Ghost Espresso, in March 2023, the barista requested his supervisor to not schedule him for his common 2-8 p.m. shift throughout Ramadan so he may honor his spiritual observe of fasting through the day and breaking the quick at sundown. The supervisor nonetheless scheduled him to work two of those shifts, so the barista and a co-worker who labored the sooner shift agreed to swap shifts – however the supervisor refused to allow them to achieve this, the criticism alleges. The supervisor fired him earlier than his common shift ended, allegedly referencing the requested lodging and accusing the barista of making an attempt to regulate the work schedule.
- The Hungry Ghost case reminds employers that EEOC stays “steadfast” in its dedication to defending in opposition to spiritual discrimination, EEOC Regional Lawyer Kimberly Cruz said in a media launch. EEOC introduced the settlement a few week after it sued the corporate.
Dive Perception:
Since EEOC modified management following President Trump’s inauguration in 2025, the company has been vocal about aggressively imposing Title VII’s protections in opposition to spiritual discrimination. Most noticeably, in an announcement final yr, EEOC signaled it might be stepping up efforts to implement “spiritual liberty protections for staff” so they’d not be “pressured to decide on between their paycheck and their religion” — a precedence EEOC formalized in its Nationwide Enforcement Plan, launched in June.
“We admire the defendant’s willingness to enter into an early decision of this case and to supply administration with the mandatory coaching to make sure affordable lodging for workers’ spiritual practices are offered except doing so would trigger an undue hardship,” Cruz mentioned.
Hungry Ghost didn’t reply to a request for remark previous to press time.
Underneath a two-year consent decree, which makes no findings of truth or conclusions of regulation, Hungry Ghost should present annual coaching on federal anti-discrimination legal guidelines tailor-made to every class of worker, together with managers and employees with supervisory and HR obligations.
The coaching should additionally emphasize Title VII’s protections in opposition to spiritual discrimination, present examples, clarify workers’ rights and Hungry Ghost’s obligations, and talk about the corporate’s procedures for reporting discrimination, failure to accommodate, and harassment and retaliation, the doc mentioned.
Many of the world’s Muslims observe the lunar month of Ramadan by fasting, abstention, prayer and reflection, members on a 2021 panel hosted by range, fairness and inclusion consulting agency Kanarys defined. Employers can assist workers of their commentary of Ramadan with a couple of easy office lodging, comparable to being versatile about offering time for brief breaks or brief prayer conferences, members urged.
On this case, instantly after the barista was fired, he instructed his supervisor that “‘what [he] was asking is only a time to interrupt [his] quick and really feel regular throughout this month’ of Ramadan,” EEOC alleged.
