Brink's Inc., the armored-car company, will pay a former employee $30,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged the company discriminated against her religion by forcing her to wear pants.
The settlement also requires the company to teach all its employees at the Bartonville facility about religious discrimination and ways to avoid it.
The lawsuit, filed in March, grew out of a previous dispute between Brink's and Carol Grotts of Bartonville. U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm signed a consent degree settling the case on Monday.
Grotts, who is Pentecostal, was originally hired in late 1997 as an armored-truck driver. She objected to wearing pants, saying it was against her religious beliefs to wear men's clothing. Instead, she asked if the company would allow her to wear culottes - a divided skirt.
The company refused and fired her. Grotts, 27, appealed to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which intervened on her behalf, and she was rehired about two years ago only to be laid off late in 2001 and ultimately fired shortly after the suit was filed.
Grotts' attorney, Dorian LaSaine of Peoria, said the company could have accommodated his client but chose not to do so.
"I think this case stands for the proposition that people should stand up for their rights. If they are wrongly discharged, then they need to stand up for their rights and they will eventually be upheld," he said.
The New York law firm representing Brink's in the case declined to comment.
Other requirements of the settlement require the company to post notices in its Bartonville facility stating there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion and that Brink's would reasonably alter its uniform requirements to accommodate people.
Attempts to reach Grotts, who has since left Brink's, were unsuccessful Thursday.