A former HVAC technician says he was fired from his job because he refused to work alone with a female coworker because of his religious convictions. 

A Ukrainian immigrant living in upstate New York, Paul Ostapa, filed a federal lawsuit this week in the Northern District of New York against his former employer, Trane Technologies, alleging he was fired in 2022 because he did not want to work alone with a female employee.

Mr. Ostapa’s lawsuit says that his “faith and sincerely held religious beliefs dictate that he is not to be alone with a woman other than his wife.” 

The complaint says he reached out to his manager, who allegedly “laughed at first” and told the plaintiff he would “not have to worry about being attracted” to the female employee because she was a lesbian.

Despite that information, Mr. Ostapa still requested that he not be required to work alone with the female to avoid “even the appearance of evil.” The complaint notes that the Trane branch he worked for had between 25 and 30 employees and says that it “would not have caused [the] defendant undue hardship” to assign another employee to work with the female technician. 

The manager agreed to grant Mr. Ostapa a religious accommodation so that he would not have to work alone with the female employee.

However, in October 2022, Mr. Ostapa was informed by a company dispatcher that he would be joined at a site by the female employee. The lawsuit alleges that the dispatcher did not send the female technician to the job site but “reported” his “objection” to the human resources department.

Roughly a week later, Mr. Ostapa was called into a meeting with his manager, the district service manager, the district office manager, and an HR representative on the phone. Mr. Ostapa was told he was fired for “insubordination” for refusing to work with the female employee. 

The HR representative said Trane did not receive a formal request for a religious accommodation, despite his manager agreeing to grant him his request. 

The lawsuit alleges Trane violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion. 

In a statement, Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Mr. Ostapa, said, “Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of their employees. Trane Technologies’ discriminatory actions against Paul Ostapa were on account of his religious belief, which the company proved by its prior actions that it could accommodate his request.”

Trane declined to comment.