A 60-year-old woman who spent more than a decade working as a pot washer at a Miami hotel has been awarded $21m (€18.5m) for being forced to work on Sundays.
Marie Jean Pierre was fired from the Conrad Miami Hotel in March 2016 after missing work on six Sundays so she could attend Bethel Baptist Church.
Originally from Haiti, she had been allowed to miss work on Sundays for almost a decade before the hotel changed its stance.
A devout Christian missionary, she said she told her employer when she was hired that she could not work on Sundays because of her religious beliefs.
“I love God. No work on Sunday, because Sunday I honour God,” she told NBC 6 Miami.
"Set up"
Her lawyer Marc Brumer said she was not scheduled to work on a Sunday for seven years before they "set her up for absenteeism.”
She took the hotel – then managed by Hilton Hotels – to court, arguing that her rights had been violated under the 1964 Civil Rights Act – which protects workers from discrimination on the bases of race, religion, sex or national origin.
A jury this week concluded that she should be awarded $21m in damages, plus $35,000 (€30,780) in back wages and $500,000 (€439,660) for emotional pain and mental anguish.
Ms Pierre will not receive the full $21m as there is a cap of $300,000 (€263,790) on punitive damage awards in federal court.
However, from that and the other payments, her lawyer expects her to still get $500,000.
"Soldier of Christ"
Mr Brumer said: "They accommodated her for seven years – and they easily could have accommodated her – but instead of doing that, they set her up for absenteeism and threw her out.
“She's a soldier of Christ. She was doing this for all the other workers who are being discriminated against.”
The hotel group said it intends to appeal the decision.
A statement from Hilton Hotels said: “During Ms Pierre's 10 years with the hotel, multiple concessions were made to accommodate her personal and religious commitments.”
Mr Brumer said the case was “not about money” but about sending a message to companies that “whatever size you are, if you're going to take the blood and sweat of your workers, you better accommodate them or let them at least believe in their religious beliefs.”
