The Kroger supermarket chain in Arkansas will pay $180,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit after two former employees alleged they were fired from the grocery store in 2019 for declining to wear logos they thought related to a rainbow Pride flag.
Kroger denied the claims in court. Kroger declined that they fired the women as a result of discrimination about their religious beliefs, and said the apron uniforms, which had a rainbow-colored heart, were never there to express support for the LGBTQ community.
Judge Lee Rudofsky, a district court judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas and a Donald Trump appointee, signed off on the settlement, which was reached after years of litigation.
The employees are Trudy Rickerd, who was 57 at the time she was fired, and Brenda Lawson, then 72 — have a “sincerely held religious belief” that “homosexuality is a sin,” the suit said.
As part of a settlement, Kroger will pay the two employees, who both believe “homosexuality is a sin,” more than $70,000 each.