(RNS) — Paul Ostapa had a problem.
In the summer of 2022, he was on the job as a heating and air conditioning technician in upstate New York with a couple of colleagues when one of them left, leaving him alone with a female co-worker. For years, he’d abided by the so-called Billy Graham Rule — vowing never to be alone with a woman who was not his wife.
Not wanting to make a fuss, Ostapa finished his work and left as soon as he could. When it happened again, Ostapa complained to a dispatcher, saying his bosses had previously agreed to accommodate his beliefs after hiring a female technician.
That led to a report being filed with human resources by the dispatcher — and eventually to Ostapa being fired.
Now he’s suing, alleging his employer, the air-conditioning giant Trane U.S. Inc., violated his civil rights by failing to accommodate his religious beliefs and then fired him because of those beliefs.
Both the failure to accommodate and his firing, which Ostapa’s attorney described as retaliation, were violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the complaint alleges.
“There is a direct and causal connection between Paul’s sincerely held religious beliefs, his request for those religious beli …