IHOP franchise to pay employee fired for not working Sundays
A franchise for the national breakfast restaurant chain IHOP has settled with a cook who filed a complaint after he was asked to work on Sundays in violation of his religious beliefs.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday that a franchise that owns several IHOP restaurants in North Carolina has reached a $40,000 settlement with a former cook fired for declining to work on Sundays so he could go to church.
The unnamed employee began working for Suncakes NC, LLC, in January 2021. He informed management of his religious beliefs and his desire not to work on Sundays upon taking the job.
While management of the IHOP in Charlotte where he worked initially accommodated him, that changed when new management took over.
The employee was asked to work on Sunday, April 25, 2021, and again two Sundays later. After working those two Sundays, the cook reminded his superior about his religious objection to working on Sundays and indicated that he would not be working the following Sunday. This prompted the general manager to fire him.
The EEOC listed comments made by the general manager suggesting hostility toward the cook's religion, which was reportedly shared with other employees at the IHOP location. The employer allegedly remarked "religion should not take precedence over [the employee's] job" and maintained that the cook "thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills."
Under the settlement reached, Suncakes will pay the cook $40,000 in monetary damages, provide annual training to its managers about the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banning religious discrimination, post notices to employees about the decision, and revise its religious accommodation policies.
