A US authorities company is suing Apple for allegedly discriminating against a Jewish employee – forcing him to work on his Sabbath and later firing him because of his religion, according to a swimsuit filed in Virginia federal court.
The swimsuit alleged Tyler Steele, a 16-year worker at Apple’s Reston, Va., store, persistently obtained optimistic efficiency critiques during his time as an Apple “genius,” serving to prospects troubleshoot tech points on their gadgets.
Starting in 2023, after Steele transformed to Judaism, the store supervisor instructed the employee that he smelled of physique odor and ordered him not to focus on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel with his coworkers, according to the lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A US authorities company is suing Apple for allegedly discriminating against a Jewish employee. Getty Images
The supervisor also denied Steele’s lodging request not to work Fridays and Saturdays in order to observe Sabbath, claiming Apple’s new scheduling coverage prohibited him from having both days off, according to the lawsuit.
The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
Since he feared dropping his job, Steele labored on the Sabbath, the swimsuit said.
Around the same time, Apple began disciplining Steele for allegedly violating the company’s grooming insurance policies, according to the lawsuit.
Apple fired Steele in January 2024, claiming he violated its grooming requirements again, according to the lawsuit. He was terminated shortly after reminding his supervisor of an upcoming break day for non secular causes, the swimsuit added.
“Employees should not have to violate their religious beliefs to keep their jobs or live in fear of retribution because they requested an accommodation,” Debra Lawrence, EEOC Philadelphia’s regional attorney, said in a assertion.
Apple fired Steele in January 2024, claiming he violated its grooming requirements again, according to the lawsuit. REUTERS
Apple did not immediately reply to The Post’s request for remark.
The EEOC is accusing Apple of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to accommodate non secular practices, discriminating against workers primarily based on their religion and retaliating against an worker for complaining about discriminatory actions.
It is in search of unspecified back pay and damages for Steele.
The EEOC is accusing Apple of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Getty Images
The company frequently sues employers for discrimination, but it has taken new intention at instances involving non secular discrimination under Acting Chair Andrea Lucas – a conservative appointed to the function by President Trump.
In August, the EEOC launched a press release boasting about its efforts to “defend the religious liberty of American workers” all through the first 200 days of the Trump administration.
In a assertion in the press release, Lucas said that during President Biden’s administration, “religious protections too often took a backseat to woke policies.”