Hotel dishwasher awarded $21 million after boss pushed her to work on Sundays

A hotel dishwasher in Miami is a living embodiment of what ‘hard work pays off’ means. Marie Jean Pierre who has been working as a dishwasher at the Conrad Hotel, Miami, for nearly 10 years was fired, despite all the hard work and loyalty Because she was not ready to work on Sundays. According to reports, the hotel had violated the agreement of her employment since Pierre had earlier informed the hotel that she will not work on Sundays as she was a missionary for the Soldiers of Christ Church, to which the hotel then agreed.

"I love God," Pierre, 60, told NBC Miami on Wednesday. "No work on Sunday, because Sunday I honor God."

In 2009, she alleges the hotel scheduled her to work on a Sunday, according to the lawsuit stating that she would have to have to resign if she was made to work on Sundays, but in an effort to persuade her not to quit, they accommodated her request until 2015.

This all changed sometime in 2015 when the kitchen manager at the Conrad Miami, "demanded" Pierre work Sundays, the lawsuit states and for a short time allowed her to swap shifts with other coworkers to have the day off.

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Pierre then sued the reported Virginia-based Park Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Hilton Worldwide, in 2017 for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark law bans employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

A jury has now awarded the Miami hotel dishwasher $21.5 million, finding that her employer violated her religious rights by repeatedly scheduling her to work on Sundays — and ultimately firing her.

The award was filed on Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Miami. The jury also found she was due $35,000 in back wages and $500,000 for the emotional journey she has endured. Pierre, 60, is a mother of six and a member of the Soldiers of Christ Church.