After initially being denied a reasonable accommodation, Daniel Schmid of Liberty Counsel says the unnamed employee filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency responsible for enforcing laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job applicants or employees based on protected characteristics.
Liberty Counsel assisted him in reaching a settlement agreement whereby the Social Security Administration (SSA) has granted the employee a religious accommodation from adhering to policies and tasks that violate his religious convictions.
Under the agreement, he is no longer required to adjudicate "same-sex marriage" claims and adhere to other gender-related policies that violate his biblical beliefs on gender and sexuality.
"He reached out to us, asked for our advice, and we were walking him through the EEOC process and getting him ready to where he might file a lawsuit," Schmid details. "Then the changing of the guard happened … in January."
The SSA is an independent agency within the executive branch, but it is still part of the broader federal government, and its employees are subject to federal laws and regulations.
Schmid does not think the Biden administration, which recognized more than two genders and mandated the use of false personal pronouns and "acceptance of any gender using any bathroom," would have agreed to this settlement. He says things are different now with the Trump administration.
The agreement cites the president's recent executive order, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," in which the federal government rebukes and rejects the concept of "gender identity" and recognizes there are only two sexes, male and female.
The employee's settlement agreement reads that he "will not be required to perform any actions in connection with his duties that would violate the terms of Executive Order 14168," meaning he will no longer be required to address others by false pronouns and use restrooms with the opposite sex.
"That allowed us to settle it without the need for litigation," Schmid says of the executive order. "He went home happy. He kept his job and got the accommodation that he could have been given a long time ago without having to file a complaint."
The EEOC has now closed the employee's complaint, making the settlement agreement final.
