RENO, Nev. — Blue Eagle Contracting, Inc., a Grass Valley, California-based bulk mail delivery contractor for the U.S. Postal Service, will pay $60,000 and implement other reforms to settle a religious accommodation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit filed earlier this year, Blue Eagle failed to accommodate a Christian driver’s religious practice of attending church services on Sunday mornings by failing to return him to his regular weekday delivery shift between Reno and Tonopah, Nevada after he volunteered on an emergency basis to drive on Sunday mornings due to a coworker’s sudden resignation. 

The driver reminded at least two supervisors that he needed to attend church on Sunday mornings and was only working on Sunday mornings until the company could hire a replacement driver. However, Blue Eagle required the truck driver to continue working on Sunday mornings even after it hired a replacement driver, which compelled the Christian driver to resign, the suit said.

“Religious accommodations under federal law can take many forms, including accommodations related to scheduling that allow the employee to attend religious services or other religious observances,” said Christopher Green, director of the EEOC’s San Francisco District. “Employers must take religious accommodation requests seriously and grant them unless doing so would impose an undue hardship.”

Conduct such as that charged in the EEOC’s lawsuit violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination and requires employers to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of employees, absent undue hardship, and prohibits religious discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Blue Eagle Contracting, Inc., Case No. 3:26-cv-00226) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

Mariko Ashley, acting assistant regional attorney for the EEOC San Francisco District, said, “This case reflects the importance of engaging in a good‑faith, interactive process when an employee requests a religious accommodation.”

Under the two-and-a-half-year consent decree which settles the lawsuit, Blue Eagle will pay $60,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to the former driver, as well as review and revise its religious accommodation policies and practices, provide training to managers and employees on religious accommodation, and submit periodic reports to the EEOC.

For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination.

The EEOC’s San Francisco District Office has jurisdiction over Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.