Following a lawsuit filed by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pensacola store Hank’s Fine Furniture (Hank’s Furniture Inc.) settled a six-figure payment to a former manager fired for refusing a mandatory COVID vaccination -19.
Federal court records indicate a settlement was reached Monday, and U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers on Thursday ordered the store to pay the former manager known as “KMO” $110,000 after she denied a Company-wide COVID vaccine mandate based on religious beliefs.
“HFI will reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of employees and prospective employees during all hiring, discipline and promotion activities, as well as when engaging in any activity that affects any other terms and conditions of employment in accordance with the requirements of Title VII ( of the Civil Rights Act of 1964),” Rodgers wrote “HFI is permanently prohibited from discriminating against any employee on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII.”
Rodgers also wrote that HFI cannot require proof that an employee or applicant’s religious objection to an employer requirement is an official principle or an endorsed teaching of that religious belief.
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The furniture store must also, within 30 days, adopt, implement and disclose a written policy to all employees that HFI “will not require any employee to violate sincerely held religious beliefs, including those regarding vaccinations, as a condition of your job.” .”
As part of the order, Hank’s Furniture must also publish a notice to all employees notifying them of their rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the next three years.
HFI representatives did not immediately respond to the News Journal for comment.
How was the Employment Opportunity Commission involved in the process?
From July to October 2021, KMO resisted pressure from her employer, Hank’s Furniture, to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, explaining that her refusal to be vaccinated was due to “sincere Christian beliefs.” Hank’s Furniture ended up firing her.
The US EEOC, as the agency that enforces Title VII, has filed a lawsuit against Hank’s Furniture, filing a 10-page complaint that claims HFI violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, when the organization “engaged in unlawful employment practices” in connection with an assistant manager’s religious beliefs and its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies.
Schedule of events between Hank’s Furniture and KMO
As of July 2021, here is the timeline for KMO’s firing by Hank’s Furniture, according to the lawsuit.
July 21, 2021
Arkansas-based Hank’s Furniture Inc. is a home furnishings retailer with stores in four states.
On July 21, 2021, HFI informed KMO that it planned to implement policies to encourage employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
After the policies were announced, KMO told the company it did not plan to take the vaccine.
August 6, 2021
About two weeks after implementing the policy, KMO told HFI that she “sincerely held religious beliefs” that would not allow her to get the vaccine. She then requested a religious exemption.
August 19, 2021
HFI reportedly contacted KMO and asked if it would comply with its vaccination policy.
“(KMO) objected to HFI’s attempts to pressure her into taking the COVID-19 vaccine on August 19, 2021, again explaining that she could not violate her sincerely held religious beliefs,” the lawsuit says. “As HFI continued to ignore (KMO’s) verbal requests for accommodation, it told HFI that it planned to submit a written request for religious accommodation and asked if HFI had a specific form it should use.”
The lawsuit alleges that HFI did not respond to its request.
After KMO complained about the “unfairness” of HFI’s alleged refusal of a religious exemption, her new supervisor informed her that “HFI did not care why she would not take” the vaccine and that HFI “I would never grant an accommodation.”
August 20, 2021
HFI announced that all employees who did not take the COVID-19 vaccine would be terminated on October 31, 2021.
August 26, 2021
KMO submitted its written request for a religious exemption, citing Title VII and listing its “sincerely held Christian beliefs.”
The EEOC claims that HFI ignored its written request, alleging that the company’s leadership discriminated against it based on its religion.
September 6, 2021
KMO sent an email to HMI requesting a status update on their written request for religious exemption.
September 14, 2021
HFI reportedly notified KMO that she had not properly requested her religious exemption from taking the vaccine, saying she was “seriously absent.” Her request was then denied.
After the denial, she “asked for help in submitting an acceptable religious exemption request, but, at all times, HFI refused to discuss accommodating sincerely held religious beliefs,” the suit states.
October 31, 2021
HFI fires KMO from her management and employment position for not being vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the lawsuit.
This article originally appeared in the Pensacola News Journal: COVID-19 vaccine process at Pensacola Hank’s Fine Furniture resolved
