U.S. companies settle religious discrimination claims by Christian, Muslim workers, government says

Two companies in the southern United States have settled five-figure discrimination complaints brought by religious workers, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced.

The agency said in multiple press releases that two companies from North Carolina and Georgia had settled with Muslim and Christian workers over discrimination allegations.

A detective agency in North Carolina said it would pay more than $65,000 to a Muslim worker who allegedly asked to be excused for a religious holiday but was denied the accommodation, the commission said . The company reportedly fired the worker without engaging in the necessary “interactive process” when she did not show up for work.

The company, N.C. Detective Agency, would also take “other corrective actions” including establishing “written policies prohibiting religious discrimination” and “procedures for addressing religious accommodation requests in the future.”

In another announcement, meanwhile, the commission said the Georgia-based Reynolds IGA Foodliner Inc. would pay $65,000 to a Christian worker who asked to have Sundays off to observe the Sabbath.

The employee worked at a Piggly Wiggly…