Dee Anne Thomson sued Gulf Winds International for age and religious discrimination and retaliation, claiming it fired her after she refused to distribute religious literature at work. A Houston-based Gulf Winds International logistics company says on the website its mission “is to glorify God by providing world class logistics services through continual investment in our people, clients, community and the world we live in.” The company fired one of its employees because she was not Christian enough and “needed to examine her walk with Jesus,” Thomson claims in court.
Dee Anne Thomson, a 52-year-old mother of five daughters, was transferred to a different facility at first, demoted and at the end fired after she voiced opposition to the company’s overtly religious practices, according to her lawsuit filed Tuesday in Harris County District Court. Employees, including Thomson, were consistently told to “think and pray” on daily work and personal decisions, and they received emails “containing Christian religious information, quotes and prayers,” according to Thomson’s complaint.
Thomson claims upper management conducted meetings for C12, “an organization that holds itself out as America’s leading Christian CEO forum and a cutting edge Christian business leadership grounded in timeless Biblical wisdom,” during business hours.
As a lawsuit states, Thomson was a highly regarded by staff, peers, and many in higher levels in management. She was replaced with a younger manager “with no experience in her area,” according to her claims. The company allegedly told Thomson that “they were giving her grace from God and that grace would come back to them, as that is how God works.”
She was not the only employee fired on religious grounds, according to the complaint. Allegedly, Gulf Winds “fired an employee solely because she had a rainbow sticker on her car,” which it assumed to mean that the employee was gay.
Thomson is asking for monetary relief between $200,000 and $1,000,000, in addition to attorney’s fees. A Gulf Winds spokesperson didn’t comment on the lawsuit, but told Courthouse News Service that they were “committed to defending our good name and reputation.”
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