Iowa Company Settles Lawsuit Over Biblical T-Shirts
He was fired wearing a scripture shirt at the company pride event
Pride month isn’t what it used to be as companies abandon the celebration and move to the middle. But one man had to take his employer to court after he was fired for wearing a biblical t-shirt quoting scripture.
The Iowa company last week reached a settlement with Cosby “Corey” Cunningham who was fired after wearing T-shirts printed with Bible verses during its pride celebration. Cunningham, a “devout, born-again Christian,” who had previously received high praise for his work ethic, filed a religious discrimination lawsuit in federal court last August against Eaton Corp, a global management company, after his firing in August 2023.
During his employment, Eaton began “increasingly promoting” DEI and LGBTQ support in the workplace, his lawsuit said. He allegedly was required to attend multiple DEI training sessions and said he was singled out during one training for disagreeing on the use of “woke” pronouns.
Eaton initiated a pride month ceremony in June 2023 in which a flag was raised in front of its main building in support of gay pride. Eaton’s management encouraged employees to attend and wear specific colors that day to show their support for the effort. Pride t-shirts also were sold to employees, according to the lawsuit. Cunningham said he began wearing Bible verse T-shirts that day to express his “sincerely held religious beliefs” and to “counter the views that were being coerced by the company on its employees” regarding support for LGBTQ pride.
One shirt cited Proverbs 16:18 with the text, “Pride goes before destruction, an arrogant spirit before a fall.” Another shirt read, “Taking back the rainbow — Genesis 9:13,” with the verse, “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth,” on the back.
Eaton fired him in August 2023, saying he had violated their harassment policy.
Cunningham filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission before filing his complaint in federal court last August, alleging unlawful religious discrimination by Eaton.
The case came to a conclusion last week with Eaton and Cunningham reaching an unspecified settlement agreement out of court. The case was dismissed on May 20, according to court documents.
–Alan Goforth
