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Two workers protested Kroger's 'rainbow' logo. Now they're getting payouts.

Kroger logo is seen on the shop in Streator, United States on October 15, 2022. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Brenda Lawson tried to reconcile her Christian faith with the "rainbow" heart on Kroger's new uniform by covering it with her employee name tag. Co-worker Trudy Rickerd offered to buy her own apron, one that didn't have the logo.

Their managers at the Conway, Ark., store repeatedly told them the logo wasn't related to LGBTQ rights and disciplined both employees in 2019 for violating the supermarket's dress code. But when Lawson and Rickerd continued refusing to display a symbol they equated with the Pride flag, they were fired.

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More than three years later, Kroger agreed last week to pay $180,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Lawson and Rickerd. The supermarket chain also agreed to create a religious accommodation policy and to give managers more intense religious discrimination training.

David Hogue, the attorney representing Lawson and Rickerd, told The Washington Post that "this lawsuit is not about casting aspersions or judgments" on those in the LGBTQ community but asserting his clients' "rights not to be compelled into adopting or approving of any certain lifestyle."

Neither the EEOC nor Kroger immediately responded to a request for comment from The Post.

The case stems from events that happened in April 2019 when Kroger changed its dress code, requiring employees to wear a newly designed apron with "a rainbow heart embroidered on the top left portion of the bib," according to the EEOC's lawsuit.

Both women, who said they believe in literal interpretations of the Bible and that "homosexuality is a sin," presumed the new logo represented support for and endorsement of the LGBTQ community, the suit states.

"Although Lawson personally holds no animosity toward the individuals who comprise the LGBTQ community, the practices of that community violate her sincerely held religious belief," the lawsuit states. "Lawson believed wearing the logo showed her advocacy of the community, which she could not do."

In court documents, the chain said the multicolored heart represented the supermarket's new "Kroger's Promise" marketing campaign. The four colors of the heart - blue, yellow, red and light blue - represented the chain's promises to give customers friendly and caring service, to provide them with fresh goods, to uplift in every way and to improve every day, the company said.

Kroger described the heart as a "non-religious Promise branding symbol."

"Notably, the symbol is not a rainbow and only encompasses four colors," the company said in its response to the EEOC's allegations.

Lawson, who had worked in Kroger's deli department since 2011, and Rickerd, as a cashier and file clerk since 2006, requested exemptions from their store manager multiple times in the weeks after the uniform change, the EEOC says. Lawson asked that she be allowed to wear her name tag over the heart logo. Rickerd refused to wear the store-provided apron altogether but offered to buy an apron of her own at her expense.

When they were rebuffed, both women appealed in writing to higher-ups at the company.

Meanwhile, when Lawson worked, she either refused to wear the apron or wore it with her name tag covering the heart logo. Rickerd didn't wear it.

Instead of granting the requests for an exemption, Kroger repeatedly disciplined the women for violating the supermarket chain's dress code. On May 29, 2019, Kroger fired Rickerd, who was 57 at the time. Three days later, the company fired Lawson, then 72.

Kroger in court filings said it terminated the women for "repeated insubordination and failure to comply with the uniform policy."

The EEOC filed the lawsuit in September 2020, claiming Kroger had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After spending more than two years jousting in dueling court filings, the EEOC on Thursday announced it had reached an agreement that would end the case.

Hogue said his clients' refusal to wear what they believed was an LGBTQ-themed logo wasn't born out of hate.

"A lot of people may look at this story and think Ms. Lawson, Ms. Rickerd and myself, that we are these LGBTQ haters," Hogue said. "But we all have friends and loved ones - even family members - that fall into that category."

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