The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit in federal court against Magnetics International (MI) in Burns Harbor, alleging “unlawful employment practices on the basis of religion.”

According to the suit, filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, MI terminated Daniel Bewley’s employment in August 2010 “instead of attempting to accommodate Bewley’s religious practices known to (MI) at the time.”

“Specifically, Bewley identified a conflict between (MI’s) work schedule and Bewley’s religious practices, and (MI), instead of attempting to accommodate Bewley’s religious practices, terminated Bewley’s employment,” the suit alleges.

The EEOC further alleges that MI’s “unlawful employment practice” was “intentional” and “done with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of Bewley.”

The suit does not identify either Bewley’s religious practices or the work schedule which allegedly conflicted with those practices.

The suit seeks the following: an injunction prohibiting MI from engaging in discrimination based on religion; an order forcing MI to “provide equal opportunities for applicants and employees whose religious observances, practices, and beliefs conflict with (MI’s) demands”; “appropriate backpay with prejudgment interest” and other relief “including but not limited to reinstatement of Bewley”; “compensation for past and future pecuniary losses,” to include “job search expenses, medical expenses, dental expenses, and vision expenses”; compensation “for past and future non-pecuniary losses,” to include “emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, and humiliation”; and “punitive damages for (MI’s) malicious and reckless conduct.”

Posted 9/29/2011