So I work at a big old retailer. Think the color red. My coworker, who I will call W for this, has been having issues lately. W is a kinda religious woman. She goes to church with her family every Sunday. Or at least she did until my work started being sh*tty. See we got hit by the “worker shortage” at my work so we all have to “buckle down”.
The day they have the hardest time getting people is Sunday because, well, it's a religious area. And depending on what position you work the system won't allow you to change your availability to “cannot work [insert weekend day here]”. Or at least that's what they say.
And I've actively heard them pull people into the office and threaten their jobs over working on Sundays. Things like “oh well you should have been written up for this but we will let it slide if you work Sundays”. That seedy sh*t.
So back to W. She got scheduled a Sunday or 2 back when things were more rough. So to be a team player she helped out, but only if she could leave in time to go to church. However, W said this has to be a very one time thing because she has a written religious exemption note from her pastor.
Then this week she noticed she was scheduled again for Sundays, during church service. W emailed them asking why because she has a religious exemption and has to go to church. They refused to respond in email and only said to her “well this is just the way things are going to have to be”. And by They I mean the head of HR for our store.
While W hates it here she needs this job and it's one of the better paying in our area especially with her medical concerns. So she can't just not show up, get fired, and sue.
I told W she needs to file a complaint because I'm pretty sure that's illegal and she has in writing that she cannot work due to religious reasons. Who would she file that complaint to? Any complaints filed internally at our work always get handled at the store level. So even if she filed a complaint about this the store manager (besties with the HR Head), and the HR Head would see it and know it's her even if W was anonymous in the reporting about it since she is the only one in the store having this issue.
Who should W call/email/reach out to outside the company since inside isn't really an option?
Edit: This is in the US