EEOC Sues Dollar General Over Religious Discrimination Against Georgia Assistant Manager

The federal government sued Dolgencorp LLC, Dollar General's store operating entity, on March 24 over the demotion of a Jewish assistant store manager at the company's Sylvester, Georgia location, alleging the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by penalizing the worker for observing the Sabbath.

The EEOC charged that Dolgencorp demoted the assistant manager because of his Sabbath observance, and that the employee had successfully worked for months on a schedule that accommodated that observance before the situation changed in early 2024. According to the suit, a newly assigned store manager then told the worker she needed an assistant manager who could work Saturdays. The demotion followed.

The alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which guarantees equal employment opportunity regardless of a worker's religion and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees' religious practices. The EEOC filed suit, captioned EEOC v. Dolgencorp LLC, Case No. 1:26-cv-00041-LAG, in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

The case strikes at a scheduling dynamic familiar to anyone who has worked in a Dollar General store: management demanding maximum weekend availability from a lean crew. In a retail chain where single-associate coverage is routine and district pressure to staff Saturdays is constant, an accommodation that held for months apparently became untenable the moment new management walked in the door.

Bradley Anderson, director of the EEOC's Birmingham District Office, said: "Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against workers because of their religious observance." Anderson added that "when employers penalize employees because of their faith, the EEOC will work to remedy that illegal conduct."

EEOC Birmingham District Regional Attorney Marsha Rucker said: "Discriminating against Jewish workers because of their religion violates the laws that the EEOC enforces. Freedom of religion is a fundamental American value and the EEOC will vigorously enforce Title VII's protections."

The Sylvester case is not the first time Dolgencorp has faced federal scrutiny over religious accommodation. A separate lawsuit, authorized by the EEOC in September 2012, was brought by a Dollar General store manager in Sicklerville, New Jersey, who identified as a Seventh-Day Adventist and alleged the company promised he would never have to work Saturdays, then later required him to and ultimately terminated him. That case produced a partial ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Irenas that allowed a breach of express contract claim to survive.

More recently, the EEOC filed a separate suit against Dolgencorp, Case No. 5:25-cv-00083 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, alleging the company failed to accommodate a worker with panic attacks at its Olustee, Oklahoma store, disciplined her for calling in sick due to an anxiety attack, and told her to quit because management would not "lose [her job] because of an employee with a 'social disability.'"

Dolgencorp has not issued a public statement in response to the Georgia religious discrimination suit. The case remains pending in the Middle District of Georgia.