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Justice Department takes up detention officer’s religious discrimination suit against Michigan city

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a detention officer in Lansing, Michigan, who was fired when her religious observance clashed with city official’s scheduling.

Department attorneys filed the religious discrimination lawsuit July 15 on behalf of Sylvia Coleman against the city of Lansing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

The suit alleges that city managers knew that Ms. Coleman, a Seventh-day Adventist, would be unavailable for work shifts between sunset Friday and sunset Saturday and that a supervisor offered her the job despite knowing of this specification.