One bad Apple: Apple settles lawsuit over alleged discrimination against Jewish employee
The company will pay $150,000 to resolve an EEOC lawsuit alleging that a manager at its Reston, Virginia, store made antisemitic comments, required a Jewish employee to work on the Sabbath and fired him after he refused a Friday shift.
Apple has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which accused a manager at one of the company's Virginia stores of making antisemitic remarks, denying a Jewish employee's requests to observe the Sabbath and eventually firing him.
The settlement, disclosed in a joint filing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, resolves the case nearly a year after the EEOC sued Apple. The company denied wrongdoing and does not admit liability as part of the settlement.
The case centers on Tyler Steele, who began working at Apple's Reston, Virginia, store in 2007 as an "Apple Genius," providing technical support and advice to customers. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Steele converted to Judaism in 2023 and subsequently asked not to be scheduled to work on Fridays and Saturdays in order to observe the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday.
The EEOC alleged that a new manager hired in 2023 denied those requests and required Steele to work during the Sabbath. The manager also allegedly told Steele that he smelled like body odor and warned him not to discuss the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel with coworkers.
Steele complained to Apple twice about the manager's conduct, according to the lawsuit, but the behavior did not change. The EEOC said Steele was fired in January 2024, a few days after he refused the manager's request to work on a Friday.
The federal agency accused Apple of religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC had sought back pay and other damages, including punitive damages over what it described as "malicious and reckless conduct."
Under the settlement, Apple will pay Steele $150,000. The amount consists of $80,000 in back pay and $70,000 in compensatory damages and interest.
The agreement also requires Apple to provide training on religious discrimination and accommodation requirements to certain employees in its Northern Virginia retail operations. For two years, the company must also report to the EEOC any denials of religious accommodation requests and complaints involving religious discrimination.
The settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Apple. The consent decree states that Apple "denied these allegations but agreed to resolve the lawsuit."
The case highlights the difficulties large employers can face when workplace scheduling intersects with religious observance. In this case, the dispute involved a longtime employee whose religious practices changed during his employment and whose requests for scheduling accommodations became the center of a subsequent dispute with management.
