Last February, three women filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Workers' Compensation Council. They claimed that they had suffered religious discrimination, wrongful termination and harassment. Last week, the women and the council reached a settlement agreement.

The people employed by the Ohio Workers' Compensation Council work with employment law matters every day, and this case just goes to show that discrimination and violations of employee's rights can take place anywhere.

The Former Employees' Claims

Two of the women filing these claims were former staff attorneys. The third was an executive assistant at the council. Together, they claimed that the council's director had broken the law by pressuring them to pray, watch religious videos and read a religious book.

The director is described as an evangelical Christian author and speaker, and the book the women claim they were pressured to read was written by her. The three former employees also quoted the director as describing a situation as "another of Satan's efforts to stall or impede the council's progress."

The three ladies were fired from their positions in February of this year. They claim that they were fired because they refused to succumb to the director's religious pressures and filed claims of:

  • Wrongful termination
  • Religious discrimination
  • Harassment

The Settlement Agreement

After wrongful termination, victims can seek many different remedies. They could ask for their jobs back, request financial compensation and fight to have their employment records amended.

These former employees and the council reached a settlement agreement that included two of the three. The agreement provided a total of $55,000 plus attorney's fees to the former employers. However, the Ohio Workers' Compensation Council and its director do not admit any wrongdoing.

The agreement also required the council to update the employment records to state that the three women resigned from their positions instead of being fired by the council.

Source: Associated Press, "Ohio settles religious discrimination suit," 28 Aug 2010