MIAMI - The Solé Miami resort hotel in Sunny Isles Beach is accused of unlawful employment practices, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Feb. 24.
The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is pressing the suit against the hotel, on behalf of former Solé Miami room attendant Julienne Claude.
Claude was hired by the resort in January 2018, at which point she allegedly informed the hotel that she was a Seventh-Day Adventist and could not work on Saturdays.
The defendant accommodated Claude's religion-related request until November 2018, when the hotel hired a new director of housekeeping, the suit says.
According to the suit, when the new director repeatedly asked Claude to work Saturdays and scheduled her to work on a Saturday, Claude informed the director of her religious restrictions and was told by the director that she "didn't want to hear it." The front desk manager also allegedly told Claude that "if you are unable to work on Saturdays, your place is not here."
When Claude reported to work on the Sunday following the day she was scheduled to work and couldn't, she was sent home, the suit says. The next Monday, Solé Miami informed Claude that she had been terminated for not reporting to work on the Saturday that she had been scheduled, the suit says.
The EEOC accuses the defendant of violating Title VII of the U.S. Constitution and discriminating against Claude for her religion. The plaintiff is demanding a retraining of the resort's personnel to comply with fair employment standards, back pay damages to Claude and other damages deemed appropriate.