Supermarket chain Kroger will pay $180,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit after two former employees alleged they were fired from an Arkansas grocery store in 2019 for refusing to wear logos they say , looked like a Pride rainbow flag.
The settlement was reached earlier this week and announced Thursday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that investigates allegations of employment discrimination based on legally protected categories, such as race, sex or religion.
Kroger denied in court documents firing the women because of discrimination over their religious beliefs, and said the apron uniforms, which had a rainbow-colored heart, were not intended to express their support for the LGBTQ community.
Judge Lee Rudofsky, District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas and appointed by Donald Trump, signed the settlement, which was reached after years of litigation. The agreement is between Kroger Limited Partnership I, a subsidiary of the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain, and the EEOC and requires a store in Conway, Arkansas, to create a “religious accommodation policy” and strengthen training on the religious discrimination it gives to store managers. .
Faye Williams, regional attorney for the EEOC, welcomed the new religious accommodation policy.
“The parties to the case have worked in good faith to resolve this matter, and the Commission is satisfied with the resolution,” Williams said in a statement.
As part of the settlement, Kroger will pay the two employees more than $70,000 each in back wages, which is part of the overall settlement of $180,000.
The EEOC filed a civil lawsuit against the store in September 2020. The lawsuit alleged that the store unlawfully fired two of its employees and violated civil rights laws by discriminating against them because of their religion.
The employees — Trudy Rickerd, who was 57 when she was fired, and Brenda Lawson, then 72 — have an “honest religious belief” that “homosexuality is a sin,” the lawsuit says.
Court documents indicate that in late April 2019, the Conway store began requiring some of its employees to wear a new uniform emblazoned with a rainbow-colored heart. The apron prompted at least 10 store employees, including Rickerd and Lawson, to immediately voice their disapproval of the logo, which they said resembled the LGBTQ Pride flag. Kroger said in court filings that support for the LGBTQ community was not the intent of the uniforms.
Since 2012, Kroger had conducted market research to determine how to better connect emotionally with its customers, according to court documents. In June 2018, Kroger had developed what the company called “Our Promise,” a customer service campaign based on four commitments, including “to improve every day” and create a “friendly and caring environment,” according to a filing that understands facts. generally accepted by both parties.
To represent the four commitments, the company developed a heart-shaped logo with four different colors. That logo was placed on new uniforms that rolled out that year, but didn’t reach the company’s Delta division, which includes the Conway store, until 2019, according to court documents.
According to court documents, part of the employees’ disapproval of the uniforms stems from a press release issued by Kroger earlier that year touting the designation of the entire company, which owns many locations across the United States, as “one of the best places to work”. for LGBTQ equality. This designation came from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.
At the Conway store, however, there was “a culture of bigotry and hatred” for LGBTQ people among the store’s older, more religious employees, according to an anonymous employee complaint submitted to Kroger’s ethics hotline. ‘era. The complaint, which was cited in a June 23 judge’s order, alleged that those employees got the wrong impression of the uniforms.
“The aprons are considered Kroger’s way of promoting the LGBTQ agenda even though it has nothing to do with it,” the complaint stated.
After refusing to wear the uniforms for weeks or attempting to conceal the rainbow logo, according to court documents, Rickerd and Lawson were fired in late May and early June, respectively. They then filed complaints with the EEOC.
David Hogue, a Conway-based lawyer who represented Rickerd and Lawson, said his clients’ lives were significantly affected when they were made redundant because they planned to retire at Kroger. But he said he thought some people “misunderstood their position”.
“It wasn’t a judgmental stance against the LGBTQ community; it was just a position of not wanting to endorse the LGBTQ community,” he said.
Kroger did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Conway, Arkansas has made national news recently. Earlier this month, the city was in the national spotlight for a public school board meeting that passed anti-transgender bathroom policies, along with bans on two books with LGBTQ-related content. . A man was videotaped at the meeting saying LGBTQ people “deserve death”. A Conway Public Schools spokesperson said the school district does not endorse the man’s claims.
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