Hobby Lobby Facing Serious Lawsuit For Unsettling Reason
Hobby Lobby is facing legal allegations pertaining to the unsettling reason why it chose to fire one of its employees.
High-profile court cases have been dominating the headlines in recent months. Now, arts and crafts giant Hobby Lobby has been put in the legal hot seat. The company is facing allegations pertaining to a former employee and their service dog. The lawsuit alleges that the company overtly violated a federal law that protects disabled workers.
The employee watchdog organization Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a suit against Hobby Lobby after learning of the former employee in question’s experience. The employee, who has not been named, is an individual who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. To support their mental health condition the individual applied for and was granted a service dog. When the former employee first started working for Hobby Lobby they did not have a service dog. So in order to start bringing their supportive animal to work, the individual sought approval from the company. The request was ultimately denied.
Hobby Lobby reportedly denied the request due to concerns over how the presence of a service animal would impact customers with allergies. The EEOC’s lawsuit filing also mentioned that the company cited fears of the animal breaking merchandise or that someone would trip over the pet. Ironically, Hobby Lobby does not prohibit customers with service animals from shopping in their stores.
According to the Kansas City Star, the series of events regarding the situation ultimately resulted in the employee being fired. Hobby Lobby officially cited the reason as job abandonment. However, the employee said after they had been off for a week completing a service dog training program, they came back to work to find out they had been terminated from their position at the store. In defense of the employee, the EEOC’s St. Louis District Office is arguing that Hobby Lobby did have the legal grounds to reject an employee having a registered service animal accompany them to work. “Employers must not reject service animals, or any other reasonable accommodation, based on stereotypes or assumptions regarding the safety or effectiveness of the accommodation,” stated the EEOC.
Ironically, this is not the first time that Hobby Lobby has found itself knee-deep in a legal battle. The retailer also faced scrutiny pertaining to their healthcare policy. The Christian-owned company is infamous for injecting its faith-based and conservative perspectives into its store policies and as such chooses to not include coverage for contraceptives in their health plans. The legality of this was called into question in the 2014 case Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby. Ultimately, it was ruled that because Hobby Lobby is a private institution they have the right to regulate what they do or do not choose to include in the health benefits that they offer to its employees.
The coming months will serve to determine whether or not the courts will rule in favor of Hobby Lobby, again. Although considering how regressive the United States judicial system has been in its rulings lately, it wouldn’t be surprising if the entity walked away without consequence.
