Kroger Settles With 2 Anti-LGBTQ+ Workers for $180,000
The Kroger supermarket chain has settled a lawsuit via a consent decree with two former employees in Arkansas who claimed they were fired for refusing to wear aprons with a rainbow heart which they felt violated their religious beliefs.The two believed the heart was in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
On Thursday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the Kroger Limited Partnership I agreed to pay $180,000 to former employees Trudy Rickerd, then 57, and Brenda Lawson, then 72, in return for dropping their suit.
Both employees were subsequently disciplined and fired in 2019, although Kroger maintains they were not terminated in retaliation for their actions.
Rickerd and Lawson were 57 and 72 respectively at the time they were fired from their positions at the Kroger supermarket in Conway, Ark.The employees will receive about $70,000 each, according to NBC News.“The EEOC commends Kroger on its decision to create a policy describing the process for requesting a religious accommodation,” Faye A.
