Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against the New York-based company Trane Technologies on behalf of former employee Paul Ostapa for unlawfully denying him a religious accommodation and firing him over his religious beliefs. Ostapa, a Ukrainian native who emigrated in 2001, had worked for Trane Technologies for 16 years as an HVAC technician. Ostapa asked for a religious accommodation to avoid working alone with a female colleague who is not his wife. The complaint states that after this request Trane Technologies subjected him to a hostile work environment, interrogation and harassment, abrupt administrative leave, and ultimately fired him, which are all violations of Title VII’s religious protections.

Ostapa worked in a unit with 15 other technicians and in a location with about 25-30 technicians in total, so accommodating his request would not have placed an undue burden on the company.

Under Title VII and the New York State Human Rights law, Ostapa is seeking a court judgment declaring his former employer’s actions as discriminatory and unlawful. Accordingly, he is asking the court for reinstatement, backpay, as well as damages, attorney’s fees, and costs as determined by a jury trial.

In the lawsuit, Ostapa states that the company fired him for “insubordination” for refusing to work with a recently hired female employee. While his immediate supervisor initially granted him an accommodation soon after the employee was hired, the company’s human resources department refused to honor it stating they had no official record of it and that it did not go through proper channels. He was then abruptly placed on administrative leave and subjected to only “yes” or “no” questions from the company’s human resources representative without an opportunity to provide detailed explanations regarding his religion or why he could not work alone with a female employee. Ostapa further noted that before they fired him the company refused any further dialogue regarding an accommodation or his religious beliefs.

In July 2025, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission granted Ostapa a right-to-sue-letter.

Trane Technologies discriminated against Ostapa based on religion by refusing to honor his initial religious accommodation, refusing to engage in the legally required interactive accommodation process thereafter, and opting to just fire him for adhering to his sincerely held religious beliefs, wrote Liberty Counsel.   

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of their employees. Trane Technologies’ discriminatory actions against Paul Ostapa were on account of his religious belief, which the company proved by its prior actions that it could accommodate his request.”