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Benefits January 22, 2007
RaceTrac Settles Religious Discrimination Suit for $125,000
January 22, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - RaceTrac
Petroleum Inc. will pay $125,000 to settle a religious
discrimination suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over charges that the company
refused to allow one of its workers to wear a head wrap to
cover her dreadlocks.
Reported by Adrien Martin
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, in 2002 the Atlanta-based company would not allow a female worker to wear the covering that Rastafarians wear as a sign of religious devotion.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit in March 2006 on behalf of Dian Paul, a former staffing coordinator who said she was discriminated against and fired for religious reasons (Rastafarianism is a Jamaican religion with about 1 million adherents).
Managers at the firm allegedly maintained this did not fit in with the company dress code.