EEOC settles with Charlotte pancake chain

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and requires that reasonable accommodations be made for sincerely held religious beliefs. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently settled a religious discrimination lawsuit against a Charlotte pancake house.

Suncakes on Sundays

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Suncakes LLC operates an International House of Pancakes franchise in Charlotte. It hired Eddie Moton as a cook at its Woodlawn Road location in January 2021. At the time, he requested and was granted an accommodation to not be scheduled to work on Sundays to honor his religious observances.

After a change in management in April 2021, the new general manager expressed hostility toward Moton’s religious accommodation and required him to work on Sunday, April 25, and Sunday, May 9. After the May 9 shift, he told the general manager he wouldn’t be working the following Sunday.

The general manager fired Moton without allowing him to work his next scheduled shift. The manager then made comments to other employees such as, “Religion should not take precedence over [the employee’s] job,” and that Moton “thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills.”

Settlement

After more than a year of litigation, the EEOC and Suncakes agreed to a settlement. Cases filed by the EEOC are resolved by a consent decree that is a publicly filed document, so you can learn the exact settlement terms of any EEOC lawsuit.