by Kandiss Edwards
September 17, 2025
An applicant filed a grievance with the EEOC after he was denied employment after asking for Sundays off.
P.F. Chang’s, the massively well-liked pan-Asian restaurant chain, has agreed to pay $80,000 to settle a non secular discrimination declare.
An applicant filed a grievance with the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC) after he mentioned that when he requested to have Sundays off on account of his spiritual beliefs he was dismissed as a possible candidate.
The incident occurred throughout an interview in August 2024 on the Birmingham, Alabama, location of the restaurant. The EEOC discovered that the applicant’s request led on to the rejection of his software.
Along with the financial cost, the settlement mandates adjustments to P.F. Chang’s insurance policies on spiritual lodging. The corporate may also conduct coaching for its workers, managers, supervisors, and human sources personnel on the Birmingham restaurant on equal employment rights.
“We commend P.F. Chang’s for his or her dedication to making sure that their eating places make affordable efforts to accommodate workers’ sincerely held spiritual beliefs,” mentioned Bradley Anderson, director of EEOC’s Birmingham District Workplace, within the Sept. 15 information launch. “This case ought to function a reminder for employers to coach supervisors and representatives to acknowledge requests for spiritual lodging. It is vital all employers perceive that federal regulation requires affordable spiritual lodging.”
Beneath Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers should present affordable lodging for spiritual observances. Employers are solely exempt from this lodging if doing so causes undue hardship. The EEOC famous that refusing to grant the Sunday-off request violated that requirement.
Based in 1993, P.F. Chang’s has 300-plus places in additional than 20 nations and airports. There are greater than 200 eating places in the USA, in keeping with the corporate’s web site.
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