A North Texas family medicine practice is accused of forcing staff to pray during daily meetings, singling out unwed couples and firing those who disagreed with the owners’ Christian beliefs.

A lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Shepherd Healthcare by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It says the company violated federal law when it fired and refused to accommodate the religious beliefs of at least four staffers.

Federal law forbids employers from discriminating based on an employee's religious beliefs or practices. It requires businesses to reasonably accommodate people of all faiths.

That includes heeding requests to be excused from company-sponsored religious activities, said senior trial attorney Meaghan Shepard, who filed the case for the EEOC.

Shepherd Healthcare, which is in Lewisville on 500 N. Valley Pkwy., denies the allegations.

"Were there Bible studies? Sure. Was there an emphasis that staff should come? Yes. But was anyone ever punished for not coming? No," said employment attorney Tom Brandon of Whitaker Chalk, the Fort Worth law firm representing family medicine practice. Terminations were due to insubordination, lack of professionalism and poor performance, he said.

According to nine-page complaint, Shepherd Healthcare held daily meetings led by business owners Dr. Timothy Shepherd or his wife, Virginia. The events were mandatory for all employees.

The meetings included Bible readings and discussions of how the biblical principles related, or could be applied, to the personal lives of staff.

This happened regardless of the staff’s own religious convictions, the lawsuit said.

Almeda Gibson told the EEOC that she is a follower of Buddhism. She was hired to work at the practice’s call center in 2015 and for about a year requested to be excused from the daily meetings. Her requests were ignored or denied. Attendance remained mandatory.

After a final request in 2016, she was told to “think about new employment.” She was fired the next day, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Others had similar claims. Stacy O’Laughlin said one of the owners cited a Bible verse and told her that being a single mother was “not what God wanted.” She was allegedly told to go to counseling, which she refused. After about one year on the job, she was fired for “insubordination.”

A clinical supervisor named Courtney Maldonado, told the EEOC that she worked at the practice for nearly four years but was removed from her post after being told she needed to be “more godly.” A physician’s assistant named Joshua Stoner says he was advised to seek premarital counseling because he was living with his girlfriend.

Others not included in the lawsuit told The Dallas Morning News that the Bible readings were held every day from 8 a.m. until about 8:20 a.m. They date back to at least 2013, but they did not become mandatory until mid-2015 when staff were asked to arrive at 7:55 a.m., said former office manager Kayme Oelberg.

"Many people couldn't do that. The owners were persistent. There was a lot of tension," Oelberg said in a phone call. She says she quit in March 2016 when one of the Shepherds started telling staff they were "not as godly as they should be," and that they "needed to be disciples like Jesus."

Timothy and Virginia Shepherd were not available for comment.

But Brandon says his clients maintain that the daily meetings in which scriptures were read were voluntary. The terminations had nothing to do with religious practice or faith.

"They were exercising what they thought was in the best interest of their practice and the patients they serve," Brandon said. "We’re still in the process of trying to uncover the real facts."

The lawsuit is seeking back pay, lost wages and punitive damage for the plaintiffs. The EEOC is also requesting that Shepherd Healthcare update its policies.