Discrimination | £16m awarded to worker after being forced to work Sundays

A Miami woman who worked as a dishwasher has been awarded $21.5million (£16.6million) after her employer was found to have violated her religious rights by repeatedly scheduling her to work on Sundays before firing her – NBC News reports.

Marie Jean Pierre, who worked for Conrad Miami, sued Virginia-based Park Hotels & Resorts in 2017 for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark law bans employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.

She said that she told her employer when she was first hired that she could not work on Sundays. "I love God,” Pierre told NBC Miami. “No work on Sunday, because Sunday I honour God."

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However, in 2009 the firm began to demand that she worked on Sundays. She decided to resign, but in an effort to persuade her not to quit her request was granted until 2015. Then, the kitchen manager at the Conrad Miami, "demanded" she work Sundays, and for a short time allowed her to swap shifts with other co-workers to have the day off.