The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a Chick-fil-A religious discrimination lawsuit against an Austin franchisee, alleging the company fired a manager after it stopped accommodating her Saturday Sabbath observance. The May 2026 complaint targets Hatch Trick, Inc., not Chick-fil-A’s corporate parent, and claims the franchise violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it rescinded a religious accommodation, offered only a steep demotion in its place, and terminated the employee when she refused.1EEOC. EEOC Sues Hatch Trick Inc for Religious Discrimination
What the Manager Says Happened
Laurel Torode is a member of the United Church of God, which observes the Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset and forbids regular work during that period.2United Church of God. Sabbath: Remember and Keep Hatch Trick hired her in 2023 as a fleet supervisor overseeing delivery drivers at a Chick-fil-A location in Austin. During her August 2023 interview with restaurant directors Faye Campbell and Jeremy Jenkins, she disclosed that she could not work Saturdays. The franchise agreed to accommodate her.3New York Post. Chick-fil-A Franchise Sued Over Manager’s Alleged Firing for Observing Saturday Sabbath
For several months the arrangement held. Torode worked 45 to 50 hours a week, Monday through Friday, with occasional Sunday shifts.4BBC. Chick-fil-A Franchisee Sued Over Saturday Sabbath Firing In early February 2024, the company told her she would have to start working Saturdays.5Fox Business. Chick-fil-A Franchisee Sued After Allegedly Firing Employee Over Sabbath Observance
Torode submitted a written request for accommodation and met with Campbell and Jenkins on February 9, 2024. She proposed having another manager or a driver cover Saturday dispatching, or working a partial shift after sundown. The managers rejected each option and told her the only alternative to Saturday work was a demotion from her management role to a non-managerial fleet driver position paying $12 an hour instead of her $23-an-hour rate, with fewer hours and reduced benefits.6Fox Business. EEOC v. Hatch Trick Complaint
At a second meeting on February 23, 2024, franchise owner Jeff Glover and Business Director Joe Thomson joined Campbell. Glover personally declined all of Torode’s proposed accommodations and kept the demotion on the table.6Fox Business. EEOC v. Hatch Trick Complaint When Torode refused the reassignment, the company fired her on February 27, 2024.7KXAN. Lawsuit Against Chick-fil-A Franchisee Is Latest Title VII Case Over Saturday Sabbath
The Lawsuit and What the EEOC Is Seeking
The EEOC filed suit on May 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The case is EEOC v. Hatch Trick, Inc., No. 1:26-cv-01275.1EEOC. EEOC Sues Hatch Trick Inc for Religious Discrimination Title VII prohibits religious discrimination in employment and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the business.
The agency’s theory is that Torode had a sincere religious need the company knew about from day one and initially honored, and that when it reversed course it refused to seriously consider workable alternatives, offering only a demotion that effectively eliminated her position. Torode is seeking back pay, reinstatement, compensation for emotional distress, and a jury trial.8AL.com. Chick-fil-A, Famously Closed on Sundays, Sued for Religious Discrimination The EEOC filed after its pre-litigation conciliation process failed to produce a settlement.1EEOC. EEOC Sues Hatch Trick Inc for Religious Discrimination
Why Chick-fil-A Corporate Is Not a Defendant
Hatch Trick, Inc. is owned by Jeff Glover and operates at least two Chick-fil-A locations in Austin, on Braker Lane and Parmer Lane. The company employed more than 100 people in 2023 and 2024.6Fox Business. EEOC v. Hatch Trick Complaint Chick-fil-A corporate declined to comment on the litigation but issued a statement distancing itself from the franchisee: “It’s important to know that, as a franchise business, all employment decisions are solely the responsibility of each individual restaurant owner.”9KVUE. Chick-fil-A Austin Texas Lawsuit Saturday Sabbath
That framing tracks Chick-fil-A’s unusual franchise structure. Under its operator model, the corporation selects locations, owns the property and equipment, and collects a percentage of sales and profits. Operators pay a relatively small initial fee of about $10,000 but cannot sell or transfer the business and do not build equity in it. Even so, each operator is treated as an independent contractor responsible for complying with federal, state, and local employment laws.10Franchise Times. Chick-fil-A Franchise Disclosure Document
The case has drawn attention partly for its irony. Chick-fil-A closes every restaurant on Sundays, a practice dating to 1946 when founder S. Truett Cathy decided employees deserved a day to “rest, enjoy time with their families and loved ones or worship if they choose.”11Chick-fil-A. Why Is Chick-fil-A Closed on Sunday A brand built on honoring a Christian Sabbath now faces federal claims that a franchisee refused to honor a different one.
Why This Kind of Case Is Landing Now
Two shifts have made religious accommodation claims markedly easier to bring. The first is legal. For nearly 50 years, courts applied a standard from the 1977 Supreme Court decision Trans World Airlines v. Hardison that allowed employers to deny a religious accommodation if it would cost the business anything more than a trivial amount. In June 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously scrapped that reading. In Groff v. DeJoy, brought by a postal worker seeking Sundays off, the Court held that an employer must show that granting an accommodation would cause “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”12Supreme Court of the United States. Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174 The Court also stressed that employers must consider alternative accommodations even when the employee’s first choice would be too burdensome, and that impacts on coworkers alone do not automatically qualify as undue hardship.13Harvard Law Review. Groff v. DeJoy
The second is enforcement. Under Chair Andrea Lucas, the EEOC has made religious discrimination a priority, with the number of religious discrimination lawsuits filed by the agency nearly tripling from four in fiscal year 2024 to 11 in fiscal year 2025.14EEOC. EEOC Delivers Administration Priorities and President Trump’s Executive Orders Sabbath cases have been a recurring category. In September 2025, the EEOC sued Apple after a Virginia store allegedly fired a 16-year employee who had converted to Judaism and requested Fridays and Saturdays off.15EEOC. EEOC Sues Apple for Religious Discrimination and Retaliation In March 2026, it sued Dollar General’s parent after a Georgia assistant store manager was allegedly demoted over Saturday availability.16Tifton Gazette. EEOC Sues Dollar General The Hatch Trick suit fits the same pattern.
Where the Case Stands
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman. A jury trial demand was filed the day after the complaint, and Hatch Trick accepted service by waiver on May 26, 2026. As of mid-June 2026, no motions or substantive filings had appeared on the docket, and the company’s answer was due by July 13, 2026.17PACER Monitor. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hatch Trick, Inc. Neither Hatch Trick nor Glover had issued a public response to the lawsuit as of the most recent reporting.18WHSV. US Sues Chick-fil-A Franchisee for Allegedly Denying Manager Saturdays Off