EEOC Sues Greyhound Lines For Religious Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an applicant's or employee's sincerely held religious beliefs unless it would pose an undue hardship. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a lawsuit against Greyhound Lines, Inc., claiming the provider of intercity bus transportation refused to accommodate the religious beliefs of a bus driver. The driver stated her religious beliefs require her to dress modestly by wearing a headscarf and an abaya, a loose-fitting ankle-length overgarment. Greyhound refused to allow her to wear the abaya, claiming it would be a safety hazard, and proposed she wear a knee-length skirt over pants. The EEOC said that the driver was compelled to quit because the skirt-and-pants uniform proposal conflicted with her religious practice of modest dress by revealing the outline of her body.