Tennessee-based Wellpath, LLC, a provider of health services in correctional facilities, violated federal law when it refused to accommodate the religious beliefs of a nurse, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a nurse who is a practicing Apostolic Pentecostal Christian was hired by Wellpath to work in the GEO Central Texas Correctional Facility in downtown San Antonio. Before reporting to work, the nurse told a Wellpath human resources employee that her religious beliefs require her to dress modestly and to wear a scrub skirt instead of scrub pants while at work. In response, Wellpath denied the request for her religion-based accommodation and rescinded the nurse’s job offer. According to the suit, the nurse had worn a scrub skirt in other nursing jobs, including at a juvenile correctional facility. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an applicant’s or employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless it would pose an undue hardship. In this case, the EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief, including an order barring Wellpath from engaging in discriminatory treatment in the future.
