Pensacola furniture store ordered to pay $110K to former manager who refused COVID vaccine

Following a lawsuit by the Unites States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pensacola store Hank's Fine Furniture (Hank's Furniture Inc.) settled for a six-figure sum payout to a former manager fired for refusing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

Federal court records indicate a settlement had been reached Monday, and federal Judge M. Casey Rodgers ordered Thursday that the store pay former manager known as "K.M.O." $110,000 after she denied a companywide COVID vaccine mandate based on religious beliefs.

"HFI will reasonably accommodate employee and prospective employee religious beliefs during all hiring, discipline and promotion activities as well as when engaging in any activity affecting any other terms and conditions of employment according to the requirements of Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)," Rodgers wrote. "HFI is permanently enjoined from discriminating against any employee on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII."

Rodgers also wrote that HFI cannot require proof that an employee's or applicant's religious objection to an employer requirement be an official tenet or endorsed teaching of said religious belief.

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The furniture store must also, within 30 days, adopt, implement and disseminate a written policy to all employees that HFI "will not require any employee to violate sincerely held religious beliefs, including those pertaining to vaccinations, as a condition of his/her employment."

As part of the order, Hank's Furniture must also post a notice to all employees notifying them of their rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the next three years.

Representatives of HFI did not immediately respond to the News Journal for comment.

How did the Employment Opportunity Commission become involved in the lawsuit?

From July to October 2021, K.M.O. resisted pressure from her employer, Hank's Furniture, to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, explaining her refusal to be vaccinated was due to "sincerely held Christian beliefs." Hank's Furniture ultimately terminated her.

The U.S. EEOC, being the agency that enforces Title VII, filed a lawsuit against Hank's Furniture, filing a 10-page complaint that claims HFI violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 when the organization "engaged in unlawful employment practices" regarding an assistant manager's religious beliefs and their mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies.

Timeline of events between Hank's Furniture and K.M.O.

Beginning in July 2021, here's the timeline of K.M.O.'s firing by Hank's Furniture, according to the lawsuit.

July 21, 2021

Arkansas-based Hank’s Furniture Inc. is a retail seller of home furniture with stores in four states.

On July 21, 2021, HFI informed K.M.O. that it planned to implement policies to encourage employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

After the announcement of the policies, K.M.O. told the company she did not plan to take the vaccine.

Aug. 6, 2021

Roughly two weeks after implementing the policy, K.M.O. told HFI that she has "sincerely held religious beliefs" that would not allow her to take the vaccine. She then requested a religious exemption.

Aug. 19, 2021

HFI allegedly contacted K.M.O. and asked if she would comply with their vaccination policy.

"(K.M.O.) opposed HFI's attempts to pressure her into taking the COVID-19 vaccine on Aug. 19, 2021, explaining again that she could not violate her sincerely held religious beliefs," the suit says. "Because HFI continued to ignore (K.M.O.'s) verbal requests for accommodation, she told HFI she planned to submit a written request for religious accommodation and asked whether HFI had a particular form she should use."

The lawsuit alleges HFI did not respond to her request.

After K.M.O. complained about the "unjustness" of HFI's alleged refusal of religious exemption, her new supervisor informed her that "HFI did not care why she would not take" the vaccine and that HFI "would never grant an accommodation."

Aug. 20, 2021

HFI announced all employees who do not take the COVID-19 vaccine would be fired on Oct. 31, 2021.

Aug. 26, 2021

K.M.O. submitted her written request for religious exemption, citing Title VII and listing her "sincerely held Christian beliefs."

The EEOC claims HFI ignored her written request, alleging the leadership of the business discriminated against her on the basis of her religion.

Sept. 6, 2021

K.M.O. sent an email to HMI requesting a status update on her written request of religious exemption.

Sept. 14, 2021

HFI allegedly notified K.M.O. she did not properly request her religious exemption from taking the vaccine, saying it was "severely lacking." Her request was then denied.

After the denial, she "asked for help to submit an acceptable religious exemption request, but, at all times, HFI refused to discuss accommodating (her) sincerely held religious beliefs," the lawsuit claims.

Oct. 31, 2021

HFI terminates K.M.O. from her managerial and employment position for her failure to vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the lawsuit.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola furniture store ordered to pay $110K to former manager who refused COVID vaccine