EEOC Sues Omni Hotels for Religious Discrimination and Retaliation

CHICAGO – Omni Hotels Management Corporation, an international hotel chain company headquartered in Dallas, violated federal law at its Michigan Avenue location in Chicago when it discriminated against an employee by denying his request to not work on Sundays due to his religion, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. The suit also alleged that Omni retaliated against the employee for requesting an accommodation by substantially reducing his hours.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Omni Hotels initially granted the full-time employee’s Sabbath accommodation request and allowed another employee to cover the Sunday shift. But subsequently Omni suddenly stopped accommodating the employee and demanded he either move to the night shift or become a part-time employee. Hotel management then retaliated against the employee by substantially reducing his hours.

Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits an employer from discriminating against individuals based on their religion, requires employers to grant religious accommodations unless the accommodation poses an undue burden, and prohibits retaliation. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Omni Hotels Management Corporation, Case No. 1:25-cv-7164) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination. For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

The EEOC’s Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.