US company Generac Power Systems to revise religious accommodations after LGBT pronoun dispute

Generac Power Systems will update its religious accommodation policies and pay a monetary settlement to a former employee following a dispute over transgender-related pronouns. The Wisconsin-based generator manufacturer reached this resolution after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission intervened in the matter, according to an announcement from the commission on September 30.

The commission stated that Generac violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to engage in the interactive process required to find reasonable accommodations. The dispute began when a worker requested to continue using biologically accurate pronouns for a colleague, stating that using different pronouns conflicted with his sincerely held religious beliefs. The commission found that the company denied the request without attempting to accommodate the employee's convictions.

The former employee has since resigned from the company. As part of the settlement, Generac will provide training to promote better handling of religious accommodation requests in the future.