NEW YORK — Sears, Roebuck & Co. has agreed to a settlement that allows repair workers who have religious objections to working on Saturdays to work Sundays instead.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer — who had threatened to sue Sears — said the giant retail company also agreed to pay $225,000 for employer education programs, $120,000 in training scholarships for Sabbath observers and $100,000 to cover the cost of his investigation.
"People should not be forced to choose between their faith and supporting their family," Spitzer said Tuesday.
Sears "is pleased we were able to reach a satisfactory settlement," said spokeswoman Peggy Palter. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing.
The policies imposed by the settlement apply only to repair workers in New York state, she noted.
The attorney general targeted Sears last summer after Kalman Katz, an Orthodox Jew, said the company refused to hire him because he wouldn't work Saturdays. At least five other people had similar complaints, including a recently converted Seventh-day Adventist who said he was fired after telling Sears he needed to begin observing the Sabbath.
Katz said he was told all repair workers had to report on Saturday because it was the company's busiest repair day. Spitzer's investigation found most of Sears' repair work is done on Tuesdays.