Religious Bath & Body Works Employee Fired for Misgendering Coworker

Can a Christian employee be terminated for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a transgender coworker?

That question is at the heart of a lawsuit coming out of Utah, where a retail manager was let go for repeatedly misgendering a work colleague. Now she's insisting that forced use of the person's preferred pronouns is a violation of her deeply held religious beliefs.

When it comes to the workplace, should preferred pronouns be mandatory?

Religion vs Respect?

Until recently, Jocelyn Boden was a store manager at Bath & Body Works in Layton, Utah. Boden is a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – more commonly referred to as the LDS Church or Mormon Church – which teaches that “gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

That statement, from the official LDS missive The Family: A Proclamation to the World, emphasizes that gender is not only part of our physical body, but our very eternal soul. According to that document, it is immutable and unchangeable.

Despite her willingness to refer to the new hire by their preferred name, Boden stated she simply could not “in good conscience refer to an associate by ‘preferred pronouns’ that were inconsistent with reality and my moral beliefs.”

Looking for a Solution

Boden has since filed a legal complaint, explaining that this conflict caused problems at her workplace. “Multiple team members chastised and alienated” her over her refusal to use the employee’s preferred pronouns, the complaint alleges. And after multiple reports to human resources from her coworkers, Boden was abruptly let go.

“She had to choose between her faith and her job,” claims Stephanie Taub, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, who is representing Boden as she pursues legal action against Bath & Body Works.

The complaint argues that Bath & Body Works made no attempt to find a solution that worked for all parties, and went straight to firing Boden when a compromise surely could have been reached.

One proposed solution from her legal team? Just let Boden misgender her coworker.

“Bath & Body Works should have found a way to respect all of its employees and to figure out a way to live up to its ideals of inclusivity and tolerance,” Taub said. “A simple solution would have simply been to allow Jocelyn to use names instead of pronouns, or even allow her to use names consistent with her religious beliefs – or pronouns consistent with her religious beliefs.”

Here Comes the Lawsuit

With a legal team at her back, Boden is filing a charge of religious discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which will then decide whether to pursue the case.

For its part, Bath & Body Works says the company was simply following the law when it comes to anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace. “Bath & Body Works complies with all laws concerning employment practices,” the retailer explained in a statement. “As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate in our management of our associates on the basis of any protected status.”

What do you think – should religious employees be expected to follow pronoun policies at work, or not? Where do LGBTQ+ rights end and religious rights begin?