A Florida mom who was fired for signing her work emails “In Christ” has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against her former employer.
The anti-religious discrimination lawsuit was filed on Dec. 2 in a U.S. District Court in Jacksonville. Records in it show that three supervisors at Computershare Loan Services objected to employee Andrea Jensen’s use of the religious signoff and warned her she would be fired if she didn’t stop using it.
“I noticed that your email auto signature does not align with the company standards,” one of the supervisors wrote in an email to Jensen, who is a devout Catholic.
It would be first in a series of emails sent to the mother of an 18-month-old, who worked as a loan closer for Computershare, a global stock transfer company.
Jensen told The Epoch Times that she has long used “In Christ” as her closing in her emails, both personal and work-related and that she sees the valediction as no different than the commonly used “Sincerely,” “Best,” or “Respectfully Yours” signoffs.
“It was pure and simple religious discrimination,” she said.
A spokesperson for Computershare forwarded The Epoch Times a message saying the company is unable to comment on legal proceedings.
When Jensen protested, noting the company was displaying a lesbian, gay, and bisexual banner on the main page of its website. She said her supervisors accused of discrimination and told her she was violating the company’s diversity policies by opposing the flag.
“You are asked to keep any personal opinions of this nature to yourself whilst at work/carrying out the duties of your employment,” one of the supervisors wrote to Jensen who was also referred to the company’s “diversity and inclusion manager.”
Computershare declined to comment on Jensen’s firing.
Jensen said the irony of the case is that her emails were mostly to title companies that never once complained about her use of “In Christ.”
Headquartered in Australia, the company also does business in the United States under the name Specialized Loan Servicing LLC.
Jennifer Vasquez, Jensen’s attorney and also an attorney affiliated with The Liberty Counsel, brought the suit against Computershare under Title VII, which prohibits any employer from terminating or discriminating against an employee on the ground of religious beliefs.
“It would have been clear to any reasonable reader that the phrase ‘In Christ’ in Ms. Jensen’s emails reflected her personal religious beliefs and was placed there on her own accord. The phrase was not harassing, hateful, rude, or inflammatory,” Vasquez wrote in the lawsuit.
Title VII is being used more frequently to compel hospitals to grant religious exemptions from vaccines for healthcare workers and is seen as a possible means to fight the ongoing termination of healthcare workers who refuse the COVID-19 vaccination on religious grounds.
Vasquez said COVID seems to have escalated a “disturbing rise” in what she called “very anti-Christian beliefs” in America.
