EEOC Sues Apple for Religious Discrimination and Retaliation

Federal suit says Virginia location required long-time employee to work on his Sabbath and later fired him based on his religion

WASHINGTON – Apple, Inc. unlawfully failed to accommodate an employee’s Jewish faith and subsequently fired him because of his religion and in retaliation for complaining of religion-based discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit filed today.

The EEOC’s suit said a 16-year employee at the Reston, Virginia Apple Store, who worked as an Apple “genius” consistently received positive performance reviews. However, beginning in August 2023, shortly after he converted to Judaism, he requested an accommodation for observing his Sabbath by not working Fridays and Saturdays. His new store manager rejected the request, claiming Apple’s scheduling policy now prohibited him from having both Friday and Saturday off. Fearing he would lose his job if he did not comply, he worked on the Sabbath, against his religious beliefs.

The EEOC also charged that around this same time, and after requesting his religious reasonable accommodation, Apple began disciplining him for allegedly violating its grooming policies, and shortly after he reminded his supervisor of an upcoming day off for religious reasons, Apple terminated him in January 2024, falsely claiming another violation of its grooming policy.

“Employees should not have to violate their religious beliefs to keep their jobs or live in fear of retribution because they requested an accommodation,” said EEOC Philadelphia Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence. “The EEOC is committed to protecting the religious rights of employees in the workplace.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from failing to accommodate religious practices, absent an undue hardship, and from discriminating against employees based on their religion. Title VII also prohibits retaliation against an employee for complaining about or opposing discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Apple, Inc., Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-1637) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

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

The EEOC’s Washington Field Office is one of four offices in the Philadelphia District Office, which has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. Attorneys in the Philadelphia District Office also prosecute discrimination cases from Washington, D.C., and parts of Virginia.

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 is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. 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. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.