Arthur J. Gallagher to Pay $40K to Settle Colorado Religious Discrimination Suit

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will pay $40,000 to settle an employment discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC charged that Arthur J. Gallagher violated federal anti-discrimination laws when it fired a client underwriting associate in its Centennial, Colorado office in 2019.

According to the EEOC lawsuit filed last year, Gallagher knew of Yu Rex Noda’s Christian religious practices, including fasting in conjunction with Lent.

A termination memo Gallagher issued cited “fasting” and “meditating” among reasons for firing Noda, according to the EEOC.

The EEOC said that Gallagher’s termination decision violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. The EEOC charged that Gallagher also violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment decisions made because a company regards an employee as having a disability.

The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Under the two-year consent decree resolving the EEOC’s claims, Gallagher will pay $40,000 to the fired employee, provide anti-discrimination training to managers in its Midwest region, and provide annual reporting to the EEOC. Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson has approved the decree, and the federal district court will retain jurisdiction to enforce it.