Sep. 25, 2003 - Separate lawsuits filed Wednesday accuse two high-profile East Valley businesses of religious discrimination, one claiming favoritism toward Mormon employees and another alleging discrimination against a Mormon.

One class-action lawsuit claims Desert Schools Federal Credit Union repeatedly passed over blacks and nonmembers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mormon employees for promotions because of their race, religion or both.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Phoenix office filed the suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Chandler resident Dera Littles and other black and non-Mormon employees. The EEOC contends that Littles and others have been "unfairly excluded" from advancement opportunities, while the credit union has promoted less-qualified employees -- all white and/or Mormon -- at its Mesa, Gilbert, Tempe and Chandler branches.

EEOC Phoenix district director called the situation "outright religious discrimination that cannot be tolerated."

Another EEOC lawsuit alleges that the upscale Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort fired concierge supervisor Amy Ferrin because she refused to work on Sundays, which she had told employers was against her Mormon faith.

The Phoenix resident said resort management had respected her beliefs for eight years, but recently a new manager asked her to begin working every other Sunday and she refused. Ferrin reported the problem to Princess human resources manager Jennifer Ward, the lawsuit claims, and was fired 12 days later.

EEOC attorney Sandra Padegimas added that Ferrin even offered to step down from her supervisory position, but manager Aaron Walton insisted that she work Sundays.

In a taped interview, Ward told EEOC investigators Ferrin was fired because she was a "cancer" in the organization, Padegimas said.

Scottsdale Princess representatives did not return repeated phone calls on Wednesday.

Padegimas said her organization received separate complaints from Littles and Ferrin, and that both were validated through investigations. The EEOC always tries to resolve such disputes outside of court, she said, but those efforts failed.

Desert Schools' attorney, Mark Ogden, said officials were unaware of the EEOC lawsuit until they were contacted by the Tribune, but they did know an investigation was under way. Ogden said Littles' claims are "utterly without merit," and that Desert Schools has never been sued for employment discrimination in more than 60 years of operation.

In addition to the two East Valley cases, the EEOC also filed a third lawsuit Wednesday against South Phoenix business Arizona Paper Box Co. on behalf of two Jehovah's Witnesses who claim they were ridiculed for their beliefs and then fired when they complained.

Padegimas said it is extremely unusual for the EEOC to file three religious discrimination lawsuits in one day. However, she said the number of such charges has increased 85 percent in the past decade.

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(c) 2003, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.