Discrimination lawsuit involving converted Jewish employee settled by Apple

An Apple Genius was fired after failing to meet grooming standards, but the individual filed a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination. That lawsuit has now been settled by Apple for $150,000.

Apple is a large company with thousands of employees across retail, engineering, and corporate entities. It isn’t immune from discrimination and the lawsuits that result.

According to a Law360 document read by 9to5Mac, Apple has agreed to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit. The company will pay out $150,000 and provide religious discrimination training, though there was no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the original lawsuit in September 2025 after an employee was fired. Apple said the employee was fired due to a lack of meeting grooming standards, but the employee alleged it was due to their asking off for Shabbat.

The Apple Genius had worked at the company for 16 years and had a reportedly good performance record. They converted to Judaism in 2023 and began asking to take off work from sunset on Friday to Saturday night to observe the religious practice of not working during Shabbat.

The employee was denied repeatedly, then grooming complaints started coming in. After a request to get a religious holiday off, the employee was terminated.

$80,000 of the settlement acts as backpay that will be taxed while $70,000 covers damages and interest. Apple has 30 days to issue the payments to the ex-employee.