A former staff member of the City University of New York (CUNY) alleged that she was fired after becoming a Christian.
A complaint filed on August 28 describes Teona Pagan being denied a religious accommodation. Pagan, who worked at the university’s Research Foundation as the Fellowships and Public Service Program Coordinator, claimed that her job required her to enlist students for a fellowship aimed at supporting LGBTQ ideology.
Pagan, who was first hired in 2021, became a Christian in 2022.
“Teona suddenly found her sincerely held religious beliefs to be in conflict with her the aspect of her job that oversaw this particular fellowship insofar as homosexuality is a sin, and guiding students into supporting and promoting a sinful lifestyle is antithetical to the biblical command that she preach the gospel and advance the Kingdom of God,” the complaint reads.
Pagan’s request for accommodation was denied, the reason being “undue hardship.”
A week later, Pagan was informed that she was placed on administrative leave. “No explanation was given as to why Teona’s employer was placing her on forced leave,” the complaint says.
She later learned that the “basis for placing Teona on leave and ultimately terminating her employment was that she quoted scripture during the meeting held in response to her accommodation request and that the scripture states that homosexuality is an abomination and brings about death.”
According to her accommodation request, Pagan asked to be “excused from participating in the Mixner Fellowship only,” an LGBTQ advocacy program. She “offered to compromise and have more of a stakehold in the other programs to compensate for [her] absence in Mixner.”
“I am now saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost, so I must move accordingly in every area of my life, including work,” Pagan wrote in the request. “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and there are certain beliefs and behaviors that come with that.”
