Workers win $5.1M payout for enduring ex-employers’ ‘cult-like’ ideas - NY Daily News

The former employees of United Health Programs of America — a discount medical plan — joined with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to win $5.1 million from a unanimous jury in Brooklyn Federal Court last week.

Their suit charged United Health coerced employees into religious practices that included odd spiritual cleansing rituals and seminars about the teachings of a wacky cartoon onion.

"I'm ecstatic. Justice was served," said Francine Pennisi, one of the ex-employees who, along with the employment commission, sued United Health and its parent company, Cost Containment Group, in 2014.

Pennisi described United Health as "cult-like" because of its affiliation with the Harnessing Happiness Foundation, a nonprofit that says it "aims to infuse happiness and hope into everyday life."

Workers win $5.1M payout for enduring ex-employers’ ‘cult-like’ ideas - NY Daily News

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If you’re thinking of holding a prayer meeting or anything else remotely related to religion in your company, it may not be a great idea. Not only can it make some people uncomfortable, but it also could be against the law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from coercing employees to engage in religious practices at work and bars them from firing or taking other adverse action against those who oppose such practices.

The EEOC felt that in this case, religion was being pushed on employees. “Title VII prohibits religious discrimination of this sort and makes what happened at Cost Containment Group unlawful,” EEOC trial attorney Charles Coleman Jr. said in a news release. “Employees cannot be forced to participate in religious activities by their employer.”