Flower Mound doctor fined by federal court after EEOC charged him with forcing prayer meetings in the workplace
Doctor disputes they were mandatory, says he believes employees cooperated because ‘they were told they’d be paid $50,000 in damages’
File photo.(Andy Jacobsohn / Staff Photographer)
A U.S. District Court in Plano has ordered a Flower Mound physician to pay $375,000 to employees who were required to start their workdays with mandatory prayer meetings.
The court found that actions by Dr. Tim Shepherd, Bridges Healthcare and Shepherd Healthcare violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from being required to accept their employer’s religious practices and beliefs as a condition of their employment.