U.S. District Court Judge John Antoon II recently dismissed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit alleging that a New Smyrna Beach (Florida) Subway® discriminated against an employee by asking her to remove her nose ring.

The EEOC sued franchisor Doctor’s Associates, Inc. (DAI), and two franchisees, Papin Enterprises, Inc., and Papin, Inc., on behalf of a former sandwich artist and assistant manager who said her nose ring, which violated DAI’s uniform policy, was a practice of her Nuwaubian religion. DAI requested written documentation to support her claim, but the employee failed to provide it. Eventually, the company fired her.

A jury found that the employee’s nose ring was not an observance of a sincerely held religious belief, and dismissed her lawsuit. The EEOC filed a further claim for injunctive relief and punitive damages, however, claiming that DAI’s request for documentation of her religious beliefs violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by trying to pass judgment on her beliefs, rather than on the sincerity with which she held them.

Judge Antoon dismissed the case, noting that the EEOC’s own guidelines acknowledge that employers may make inquiries to determine the sincerity of an employee’s religious observances. Otherwise, he observed, “an employer would have to grant an accommodation anytime the employee requested one.”