A pronoun dispute inside a Salt Lake City–area Bath & Body Works has ended not with a courtroom showdown, but with a confidential settlement.
A former store manager in the region reached a private agreement with the retailer after claiming she was fired for refusing to use a coworker’s preferred pronouns. The deal, announced on March 17, wraps up a discrimination charge she filed following her May 2025 termination. Neither the company nor the former manager has disclosed what is in the settlement.
First Liberty Institute and the law firm Schaerr Jaffe LLP, which represented the manager, announced the resolution, according to ABC4 Utah. First Liberty attorney Cliff Martin told the outlet that “employers cannot force you to personally affirm a radical ideology that goes against your religious beliefs,” while Schaerr Jaffe lawyer Joshua Prince said, “everyone benefits when employers obey the law and respect the religious beliefs of their employees.” ABC4 reported that the terms remain under wraps.
Background of the dispute
The manager, Jocelyn Boden, described in court filings as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after her May 2025 firing. She alleged Bath & Body Works failed to accommodate her religious objections to using certain pronouns, according to a filing posted by First Liberty Institute.
Local coverage previously reported that the conflict unfolded at a Layton-area store after team members complained about Boden’s refusal to use a new hire’s requested pronouns. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on the original complaint when it was filed.
Legal implications
Employment attorneys say the dispute lands squarely in the gray area where federal protections for gender identity under Title VII meet statutory safeguards for religious exercise. Courts are still sorting out how those rights interact on the job, especially in customer-facing workplaces.
The Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock decision held that firing someone for being transgender violates Title VII, but questions remain about what counts as a reasonable accommodation when an employee raises religious objections, according to the Legal Information Institute. Because this dispute ended in a confidential settlement, it will not generate a public ruling to clarify those broader tensions.
What’s next
With the settlement in place, the EEOC charge tied to Boden’s case is likely resolved, although the agency did not immediately respond to reporters seeking comment.
Bath & Body Works has previously said it aims to foster an inclusive workplace and that it complies with employment laws, as noted in earlier coverage by The Salt Lake Tribune. Lawyers on both sides have suggested that the case highlights the tightrope national retailers walk as they try to enforce nondiscrimination policies while also navigating employees’ religious beliefs in an increasingly diverse workforce.
