A Christian woman was punished after refusing to escort a prominent transgender-identifying male “political figure” to a female locker room at a spa operated by the iconic Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. 

The suit says that Jeriah Sellers, a devout Christian, was told to leave her faith at the door after she informed her supervisor that she was uncomfortable bringing a male into the female locker room at the Melt Spa by Hershey in Pennsylvania. As a result of her request not to be forced to bring males into female spaces, Sellers says that she was suspended without pay for a shift and slapped on the wrist by the company’s HR department. 

“Hershey wants you to leave your personal, religious, and political beliefs at the door,” Sellers was told by a company HR representative, the lawsuit alleges. The suit accuses the spa of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits religious discrimination and requires employers to accommodate workers’ religious practices.  

Sellers is being represented by lawyers Andrea Shaw and Jeremy Samek, a lawyer with the Independence Law Center, a Pennsylvania-based public interest law firm. The suit was filed in the federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

“This is really, I think, a  case where the corporate mentality on the transgender issue is that employees can’t be accommodated and that they’re justified in punishing religious beliefs on this issue,” Shaw told The Daily Wire. “And that’s what needs to change. The corporate can have their policy, but they need to accommodate their employees with their religious beliefs.” 

Hershey Entertainment and Resorts was founded in 1927 by chocolate baron Milton S. Hershey, more than 30 years after he founded the famed Hershey Chocolate company. While the two are separate business entities, they both partner with the Milton Hershey School. 

The controversy began on May 28, 2025, when Sellers says her supervisor told her that a transgender-identifying male who was a “well-known political figure” was coming to the spa and would be using the female locker room. After she was told of the upcoming visit, Sellers told her supervisor that she would be unable to bring the male to the locker room because of her Christian religious beliefs. It is unclear who the figure visiting the spa was. 

Her supervisor responded by saying that it was not a problem and offered to bring the guest to the locker room, according to the suit. A few days after this conversation, Sellers and her supervisor discussed a potential religious accommodation. 

“[Sellers] explained that as a Christian, she wanted to figure out how best to respond to this situation in a positive way for everyone, but that she was not comfortable escorting a biological male into the Women’s Locker Room because it went against her religious beliefs, which also included her concern for other female guests who may be uncomfortable having a biological male present in the designated female locker room facility,” a copy of the suit obtained by The Daily Wire said. 

The supervisor indicated that the accommodation was reasonable but that it would need approval from the HR department, the suit says. During a meeting on June 4, 2025, with the HR department, Sellers says that she was told that she would be disciplined by having her shift for the day suspended without pay and receiving a write-up by HR.

That was when she was allegedly told to leave her “personal, religious, and political beliefs at the door.” She was also given a copy of the company’s transgender policies, which require employees to guide customers to their facilities based on if they mark male, female, or “non-binary,” according to the suit. 

An exhibit included in the suit viewed by The Daily Wire reveals a document called “Spa Transgender Policies” dated September 2021 that says that “guests are welcome to use the locker room that corresponds with their gender identity. Bathroom and shower stalls are also located within the locker rooms for privacy.” 

Sellers said that she had never seen the document outlining the spa’s transgender policies before. 

“Despite Jeriah’s request for a reasonable accommodation based on her deeply held religious beliefs, and in spite of both her supervisor’s and manager’s recognition that she easily could be accommodated, Defendant disciplined Jeriah, placed her under threat of future discipline and instructed her to leave her religious beliefs at the door.”

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On July 21, 2025, Sellers filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Two days later, the EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter indicating that it would not be able to resolve the complaint quickly. 

As a Christian, Sellers believes that God created only two sexes, male and female, and believes it would be deceitful to purposely bring a male into a female space. 

Additionally, her “Christian faith dictates her belief in modesty and privacy,” the suit said. “Therefore, it is a violation of Plaintiff’s religious beliefs to be present where males might change or to encourage, aid, or facilitate the entry of a biological male into a designated space where females undress without their consent, thereby subjecting those women to a sexually harassing environment where their privacy will be compromised.”

The suit requests that a court rule that Hershey Entertainment and Resorts violated Sellers’ civil rights and ensure that she has an accommodation for the future. 

Sellers first began working at Melt Spa in August 2023 and was required to give female guests a tour of the female locker room while only having to escort male guests to the door of the male locker room.