The Rock Snowpark Settles EEOC Religious Discrimination Suit Over Social Media Posts

MILWAUKEE — Crystal Ridge Ski Area, doing business as The Rock Snowpark, a winter sports park and summer events venue in Franklin, Wisconsin, will pay $20,000 and be subject to two years of monitoring by the EEOC to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The suit alleged that The Rock Snowpark fired a Christian employee in June 2023 because of his religious posts on his personal social media accounts. Although the posts were not directed to and did not refer to the company or any employee of the company, and although the company received no complaints from customers, vendors, or employees about the posts, the employee’s supervisor objected to them as discriminatory. After an initial warning, the company terminated the employee shortly after he posted another Bible verse.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of an individual’s religion. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Crystal Ridge Ski Area, LLC d/b/a The Rock Snowpark, LLC, Case No. 2:25-cv-00940) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

“Our country’s workplace discrimination laws protect everyone, including people whose religious views an employer may disagree with,” said Victor Chen, EEOC spokesperson. “An employer cannot fire an employee simply because it finds an employee’s religious beliefs objectionable.”

Under the consent decree settling the suit, in addition to monetary relief, The Rock Snowpark is required to ensure that its employment policies provide for equal employment opportunity regardless of religion, report future complaints of religious discrimination to the EEOC, and provide training to all of its employees about federal antidiscrimination laws and their protections against religious discrimination.

For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination.

The EEOC’s Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.