Religious Accommodation for Start Date

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a lawsuit where it alleged that a company refused to hire an employee because of his need for a religious accommodation.  The EEOC’s lawsuit claims that an applicant was offered a position with the company and told that his start date was October 3, 2016.  The applicant told the manager that he would be unable to start then because he observed Rosh Hashanah on that day.  The manager initially told the applicant that he thought it would be acceptable for him to start on October 4, 2016 instead.  However, later the same evening, the Vice President of the company called the applicant and told him that it would not provide this religious accommodation.  The EEOC claimed that the company revoked the employment offer because of the employee’s need for a religious accommodation.  Discrimination on the basis of an applicant or employee’s religion is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  See EEOC v. XPO Last Mile, Inc., No.1-17:cv-01342 (D. Md.).