Judge Hands Down Huge Ruling on Two Arkansas Women Fired for Refusing to Wear LGBT Colors
The LGBT lobby has become little more than a massive bullying organization. People face job loss, humiliation and other penalties for simply sticking to their traditional, constitutionally protected religious views.
This was shown yet again when two Kroger employees, Brenda Lawson and Trudy Rickerd, were fired for refusing to wear aprons with multicolored hearts on them to show their support of sexual sin.
Coming to the two employees’ defense was an unlikely ally — the federal government, in the form of a lawsuit filed on their behalf by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the waning days of former President Donald Trump’s term in office.
“Defendant Employer refused to consider Lawson’s request for a religious accommodation for her sincerely held religious belief,” the lawsuit said, according to Insider. “Defendant Employer continued to discipline Lawson for her failure to follow the dress code by wearing the apron that was contrary to her sincerely held religious belief.”
“On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lee Rodofsky, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump in July 2019, ordered Kroger Limited Partnership to [pay] $180,000 to Rickerd and Lawson and ‘provide reasonable accommodations to employees who have sincere religious objections to Kroger’s dress code,’ court documents show,” according to the outlet. “Rudofsky also ordered the company to create a religious accommodation policy and new employee training.”
Rudofsky’s order added that the two former employees “both have sincerely held religious beliefs that homosexuality is a sin and that they cannot support or promote it.”
The current administration then was placed in the uncomfortable position of having to release a statement celebrating its victory over one of its staunchest allies, “the LGBTQ+ community.” It must have felt like the strangest victory lap in history, but at least the career bureaucrats at the EEOC found a way to “commend” the company they had sued.
Because of course they did. Kroger was just trying to do the right thing, weren’t they? What’s a little religious discrimination among friends?
The entire statement from the EEOC appears here:
EEOC and Kroger Limited Partnership I Resolve Religious Discrimination Lawsuit
Employees Denied Religious Accommodations, Federal Agency Charged
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Kroger Limited Partnership I will pay $180,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency announced today. The EEOC had filed suit on behalf of two former employees who worked at a Kroger store in Conway, Arkansas.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Kroger Limited Partnership I engaged in religious discrimination when it disciplined and ultimately fired the employees for refusing to wear an apron with the company’s “Our Promise” symbol because they believed it represented support for the LGBTQ+ community. Kroger denies the allegations.
The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Kroger Limited Partnership d/b/a Kroger, Store No. 625, Civil Action No. 4:20-CV-01099 LPR) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Central Division, after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The parties decided to resolve the case with a consent decree to avoid additional costs and uncertainties of future litigation. As part of the settlement, Kroger Limited Partnership I has agreed to create a religious accommodation policy and provide enhanced religious discrimination training to store management.
“The EEOC commends Kroger on its decision to create a policy describing the process for requesting a religious accommodation,” said Faye A. Williams, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office, which has jurisdiction over Arkansas, Tennessee and portions of Mississippi. “This policy will provide guidelines for requesting religious accommodation. The parties in the case worked in good faith to resolve this matter, and the Commission is pleased with the resolution.”
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
The so-called “progressive” and tolerant left is dedicated to defending the downtrodden LGBT minorities — even to the point of punishing those who refuse to fly the flag of these sexual sins.
Thankfully, it looks like a bit of sanity still remains in our country — even in President Joe Biden’s administration — and Kroger was not only checked, but made to pay out a six-figure sum.
Hopefully, other companies will learn a lesson from Kroger’s mistake. But I wouldn’t bet on it, because humanity’s sin runs deep — deeper that we generally know.
That’s true of Kroger. It’s true of me. And it’s certainly true of you, my friend.
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