EEOC Sues The Cogar Group for Religious Discrimination After Baptist Deacon Forced to Resign from Security Job

NEW ORLEANS -The Cogar Group, Ltd., a Fairfax, Virginia-based security services company operating in several states, violated federal law when it failed to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs, instead forcing him to choose between attending services at his church and keeping his position as a security guard, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, in February 2024, The Cogar Group told the security guard, a disabled veteran who had worked for the company in New Orleans part-time with Sundays off since March 2021, that his schedule would be changed to Saturday and Sunday. The security guard told his supervisor that the new schedule would interfere with his religious beliefs because he is a devout Baptist and a deacon, and his faith requires him to attend church on Sundays. The Cogar Group refused to alter the new schedule to accommodate his religious obligations, and the security guard was forced to resign.

"Federal law entitles employees to accommodations for their religious practices," said Michael Kirkland, director of the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office. "Absent undue hardship, it is unlawful for an employer to force an employee to choose between his religious practice and his job."

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from failing to accommodate religious practices unless an accommodation would impose an undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. The Cogar Group, Ltd., Case No. 2:26-cv-00661) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Jacqueline Barber, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office, said, "When it is feasible for an employer to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs, but it chooses not to, the employer violates Title VII."

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

The EEOC's Houston District Office's jurisdiction includes southeast Texas and Louisiana.

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 .