Şunun için etiket arşivi: Title VII

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of religious discrimination and retaliation against a Jewish retail employee who was allegedly harassed, denied religious accommodations, and later fired.

According to the complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, the manager of Apple’s Reston, Virginia store made antisemitic remarks toward employee Tyler Steele, forced him to work on the Jewish Sabbath, and warned him not to discuss the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel with colleagues. The manager also allegedly told Steele that he “smelled like body odor.”

The EEOC says Steele, who began working for Apple in 2007 as an “Apple Genius,” converted to Judaism in 2023 and soon after requested to be excused from working from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown to observe the Sabbath. The new store manager denied these requests, the lawsuit states.

Steele reportedly complained twice to Apple’s management, but no action was taken. He was fired in January 2024, just days after again refusing to work on a Friday, according to the EEOC.

The lawsuit, filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, alleging Apple engaged in “malicious and reckless conduct.”

Apple did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Under Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Trump-appointed conservative Christian, the EEOC has increased scrutiny of cases involving religious discrimination. In a statement last August, Lucas argued that during the Biden administration, “religious protections too often took a backseat to woke policies.”

The case adds to Apple’s growing list of legal challenges related to workplace treatment and corporate responsibility.