A former cook filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against In-N-Out after the burger chain fired her for seeking a work schedule that allowed her to attend church on Sundays.
Arianna Rodriguez had been working as a cook for the burger chain’s Long Beach, California location for nearly five years without issues with a schedule that allowed her to attend church on Sundays.
She claims this wasn’t an issue until a new manager started in October.
She alleges her Sunday availability then became a “recurring source of workplace conflict” and she got her first-ever write-up during this time.
According to the lawsuit, the situation escalated through the fall months as Rodriguez maintained her need for Sunday availability due to her Christian faith.
In December, she claims she went to upper-level management, claiming she had concerns about her availability, church attendance, and unfair treatment but said her concerns were dismissed.
The company did not respond to the escalation the way Rodriguez had hoped, according to court documents.
On June 24, Arianna claims “an incident occurred involving food” that she thought was “waste under the workplace practice she had observed” but she says In-N-Out reported her to HR, suspended her, and began investigating the incident.
It’s unclear what the incident was, but the cook claims other employees have done something similar and weren’t suspended or fired only received warnings.
Rodriguez felt the suspension was disproportionate given how other workers had been treated for comparable actions.
The termination came roughly a month after the June 24 food incident that initially led to her suspension.
She’s now suing for religious discrimination, wrongful termination, and more. She’s asking for unspecified damages, unpaid wages, and to get her job back.
The lawsuit is striking when you consider that In-N-Out is owned by a deeply religious Christian family.
The family-owned burger chain is known for integrating faith-based messaging into its operations, including Bible verses printed on packaging.
In the viral moment that prompted Rodriguez to file her complaint, she had raised her religious scheduling needs as a practicing Christian who observed Sunday worship as central to her faith. The new manager who arrived in October 2024 appears to have changed the informal arrangement that had worked for years, according to the legal filing. Rodriguez maintained that her requests for reasonable religious accommodation were treated as a problem rather than a standard workplace practice that needed protecting.
She’s seeking unspecified damages, unpaid wages, and to get her job back.