Aurora Pro Services settled in a religious harassment, discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. (Screenshots from CBS Greensboro affiliate WFMY News 2)
A home repair company in North Carolina will pay a $50,000 settlement to two employees who claimed they were fired after refusing to attend daily “cult-like” Christian prayer meetings.
Aurora Pro Services, a company that provides roofing, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, and electrical services, settled the case last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced. The settlement stemmed from a religious harassment, discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the agency in June 2022.
“Federal law protects employees from having to choose between their sincerely held religious beliefs and their jobs,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, in a statement. “Employers who sponsor prayer meetings in the workplace have a legal obligation to accommodate employees whose personal religious beliefs conflict with the company’s practice.”
As part of the settlement, the company will also be subjected to a three-year consent decree that prohibits the company from discriminating and retaliating against employees and will put into place a new anti-discrimination, non-retaliation, and religious accommodation policy and train all managers and employees, the EEOC said.
Oscar D. Lopez, the company’s owner, did not immediately respond to an email from Law&Crime seeking comment.
The company’s website says, “Growing up, the most important person in my world was my Grandmother Aurora. I’ve never met anybody who worked harder, had more integrity and had a deeper faith in God. Simply put, I am the person I am today because of my Mamita.
“From her, I learned what family means. I learned honesty is the only option. I learned that no matter what troubles I have, the solution can always be found in the Lord. You may have had a grandmother like mine. If so, we’re going to get along just fine. And you’ll know my team will take care of you.”
The EEOC alleges Aurora created a hostile work environment by requiring former employees John McGaha, a construction manager and atheist, and Mackenzie Saunders, a customer service representative and an agnostic, to attend daily Christian prayer meetings as a condition of their employment, court documents said.
When McGaha requested to be excused from the daily prayer meetings, Aurora cut his wages in half and ultimately fired him. Saunders was fired after she declined to attend the meetings, the lawsuit said.
“Attendance at the prayer meetings was mandatory for employees and was a condition of employment regardless of the employee’s own religious beliefs or affiliations,” the lawsuit said. “During the prayer meetings, employees stood in a circle, while the owner and others read Bible scripture and Christian devotionals.”
During the sessions, the leader also solicited prayer requests from employees.
“Prayers were sometimes requested and offered for poor performing employees, who were identified by name,” according to the lawsuit. “The prayer meetings also briefly addressed business matters at the close, but the meetings were primarily religious in nature.”
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McGaha initially attended the prayer meetings, but “as the meetings grew more religious in nature and longer in duration, they became less tolerable for Mr. McGaha due to the religious conflict,” court documents said.
On Aug. 28, 2020, “McGaha privately asked the owner to be excused from attending portions of the daily prayer meetings that pertained to religion because it conflicted with his personal religious beliefs, Atheism,” the document said.
His request was denied, and was told, “all employees were required to participate in the prayer meetings, and that it would be in his ‘best interest’ to do so.”
When he asked to be excused the following month, he was told that “he did not have to believe in God, and he did not have to like the prayer meetings, but he had to participate,” the lawsuit said.
During the meetings, the owner prayed and recited scripture from the Bible, the lawsuit said.
“Ms. Saunders describes the behavior as ‘ranting,”” the lawsuit said. “Ms. Saunders began to feel as though the meetings became ‘cult-like’ after the owner required everyone to recite the Catholic version of the Lord’s Prayer in unison.”
The owner enforced mandatory attendance. Saunders witnessed the owner reprimand employees for not attending, the court documents said.
“The owner’s reputation around the office was that he was short-tempered and confrontational, which further exacerbated the hostile religious environment,” the lawsuit said.
When McGaha objected to the meetings, the owner threatened his job if he did not participate.
Video aired by CBS Greensboro affiliate WFMY News 2 shows the owner stating, “You have to participate. If you do not participate, that is okay. You don’t have to work here. You are getting paid to be here.”
Saunders was fired after not attending the meetings for a couple of weeks.
“The owner told Ms. Saunders she was being discharged because she was ‘not a good fit’ for the company,” the lawsuit said.
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