A former staff member at a public college in New York City is fighting back over the claim she was fired after becoming a Christian.
Teona Pagan was the fellowships and public service program coordinator at City University of New York’s Research Foundation until she requested a religious accommodation, which she claims was denied.
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Pagan, who filed a lawsuit on Aug. 28, told CBN News her job as the fellowships and public service program coordinator at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership made her responsible for helping “students to pursue their dreams through different fellowships.”
“[I] was in charge of curating those programs to make sure that, when the students were able to pursue those internships, and those dreams, and those goals, that we were able to not just give them a check to go do so, but we were able to curate a program behind whatever that interest was,” she said.
Pagan said problems began after she became a Christian and started to question one of the fellowships for which she was responsible.
“I became more of a devout Christian,” she said. “I always believed in God, but definitely began running after Him in April of 2022.”
Pagan continued, “And, so, with that comes a lot of responsibility. … [God] tells us to deny ourselves, pick up a cross, and follow after Him, and, so, that comes with a lot of conviction, and that comes with a lot of ensuring that I lived by what I was preaching.”
She was living out her faith at church and in other areas of her life, but felt she wasn’t “living up to it in the fullness” at work. She said an LGBTQ-inspired fellowship she oversaw left her feeling convicted, as she had come to believe homosexuality violates Scripture.
“I didn’t feel comfortable continuing to do that,” Pagan said of running the fellowship. “But it wasn’t just [like] I woke up one day and just decided to refuse to do my job. It was prayer, it was fasting, it was consulting with my spiritual leadership.”
Ironically, Pagan said she was “an advocate” and “an ally” of the LGBTQ community before becoming a Christian. She said she was also a supporter of Black Lives Matter, among other causes.
“Once I got saved, everything changed for me,” she said, later adding, “I was an advocate for all these different intersectional things that … have the face of social change, but behind it is sin and nothing but going against the Word of God.”
So, Pagan decided to seek accommodation for the one fellowship she oversaw that she felt violated her convictions and believed there was more than enough staff to cover that task.
“I knew it was possible because that was such a small portion of my job,” Pagan said. “And I had other team members, and I had other people on the job that would have been able to help me with that.”
But Pagan said her accommodation was denied and charged her Christian beliefs played a role. She recalled telling her supervisor why she felt she needed the accommodation.
“I just explained briefly that I just felt like … God would hold me responsible,” she said. “And I just didn’t want to continue doing that.”
In addition to the denial, Pagan claims she was put on administrative leave, barred from campus, and inevitably terminated.
“I love all people as Jesus does,” she said. “He loves all of us. He created all of us, but the things that He doesn’t agree with, we also, as Christians, have to stand boldly.”
Kristina Heuser, Pagan’s attorney, said she’s not surprised by her client’s case.
“It’s not surprising, because there is a lot of hostility and retaliation against Christians in the workplace and just in the world generally these days,” Heuser told CBN News. “I’m just so proud of [Teona] because it’s really a difficult thing to do, especially for a young person, but really for anybody to take a stand like this, and she’s doing the right thing — and her employer clearly violated the law.”
Heuser said the lawsuit was filed only after a complaint was waged with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that deals with workplace discrimination. Once a right-to-sue letter was issued, they were able to file in court.
“The next steps likely will be that the defendants will make a motion to dismiss, which is typically what happens in these cases,” she said. “And we’ll oppose that, obviously, and then it’ll be in the hands of the judge to decide that, and the courts move very, very slowly.”
If the case survives, she said they’ll move to discovery and progress before a potential settlement or the case works its way through the system. As for Pagan, she’s hoping for a resolution.
“I didn’t think it was going to escalate,” she said. “I didn’t think that it was going to be that big of an issue.”
But beyond remedies in the legal system that bring her relief from hardship, she’s ultimately hoping for spiritual healing for those who encounter her case.
“The ultimate goal for me is to allow somebody to say, ‘What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be able to stand for what’s right?'” she said. “There’s a lot of propaganda. There’s a lot going on in the world.”
Pagan also hopes to inspire young people who might feel scared or intimidated to speak up for what’s right.
As for Heuser, she said she’s unsure if victory will unfold in New York, but even a loss at the district court level doesn’t mean the case will be over.
“There will be an opportunity, even if we don’t have a victory at the district court level, for us to appeal and potentially make new law and set precedent so that there will be clear legal barriers to people retaliating against people of faith in the workplace,” she said. “So, it’s important that we take on this fight both on the culture side and the legal side, and I’m just so honored and blessed to be a part of it.”
A CUNY spokesperson declined to go into a detailed response to Pagan’s lawsuit, telling CBN News, “CUNY doesn’t comment on pending litigation.”
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