Justice Department Addresses Religious Discrimination in Lawsuit for Former Teacher Denied Exemption from Vaccine Mandate

The Justice Department today announced that a federal judge has approved a consent decree that settles its lawsuit against the Advanced Science and Technology Education Charter Schools (ASTEC) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The lawsuit alleges ASTEC discriminated against Marcus Rethwill, a former teacher at the school, on the basis of religion, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when it terminated him after denying his request for a religious exemption from ASTEC’s vaccine mandate for employees because he could not provide a clergy letter supporting his request. Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

“When employees’ religious principles conflict with work rules, they should not be forced to choose between practicing their religion and keeping their jobs if a reasonable accommodation can be made,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Employer policies that rigidly restrict how employees can demonstrate the sincerity of their religious beliefs for religious accommodations are inconsistent with the breadth of Title VII’s protection against religious discrimination.” 

“No employee should be forced to violate their religious beliefs just to keep their job,” said U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma. “Employers must take care not to craft or apply policies that require employees to forfeit their religious beliefs or impose unreasonable conditions that question the sincerity of those beliefs.”

Under the consent decree, ASTEC will pay Rethwill $95,000 in monetary damages, revise its anti-religious discrimination policy, and provide mandatory training on the policy to personnel.

The Oklahoma City Area Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigated and attempted to resolve Rethwill’s charge of discrimination before referring it to the Justice Department for litigation. More information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.

The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt/.