Recently Shuttered Restaurant Settles Allegations That It Failed to Accommodate Its Employee’s Religion and Then Discharged Her

ATLANTA – Del Frisco’s Grille of Atlanta, LLC—which was part of a national restaurant group operated by Landry’s LLC but ceased operations last month—will pay a former employee $25,000 and provide other relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed the U.S. Equal Employment Oppor­tunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC alleged in its suit that Del Frisco’s violated federal law by failing to accommodate an employee’s religious practices and then discharging her. The employee, a server at the restaurant, had an existing religious accommodation of not working on Tuesdays so she could attend worship services. In 2019, when New Year’s Eve fell on a Tuesday, Del Frisco’s revoked her accommodation and tried to force her to work—alleging it was mandatory for servers to work the holiday. Despite saying it was a mandatory workday, Del Frisco’s gave other servers who did not need a religious accommodation the day off.

Such conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which requires that employers accommodate the religious practices of their employees unless they can show undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit (Civil Action No. 1:22-CV-02234-MHC-JKL) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation pro­cess.

Under the consent decree resolving the lawsuit, Del Frisco’s will pay $25,000 in monetary damages to the former employee and train its management employees on religious discrimination at approximately 30 Del Frisco’s sister restaurants.

“Del Frisco’s could have easily accommodated this employee’s religious needs but gave other employees the day off instead,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “While the closure of the restaurant affected the relief available in this case, the consent decree entered by the court will provide compensation to the victim and necessary training to Del Frisco’s sister restaurants to prevent this from happening again.”

District Director of the Atlanta Office Darrell Graham said, “Del Frisco’s is part of a large network of restaurants that continue to operate throughout the United States. The EEOC is hopeful that the lessons learned in this case will impact how those other restaurants handle requests for religious accommodations in the future.”

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

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.