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Georgia Department of Public Health Rescinds Job Offer; Candidate Files EEOC Complaint

September 24th, 2014

A California man who was once offered a job by the Georgia Department of Public Health claims the agency withdrew the job offer because of his religious practices.

Dr. Eric Walsh has filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Georgia Department of Public Health. He is claiming discrimination.

The Department rescinded an offer of employment in May following Walsh’s resignation as Public Health Director in Pasadena, California. The city government there had put Walsh on administrative leave, and he was under investigation for allegedly discriminatory statements posted online from one of his sermons. Walsh is a Seventh Day Adventist lay minister.

According to Walsh’s lawyer, Jeremy Dys, “It was only when they asked for some sermons of his to review, he gave them to them, and two days later he was fired. For the state to fire someone for a sermon they preached in church is illegal.”

In the sermons, Walsh condemns gays, Catholics, and Muslims.

The Georgia Department of Public Health declined a request for an interview but issued a statement. It says the department withdrew the job offer for “reasons entirely unrelated to his beliefs.”