A Kentucky woman claims saying the phrase "Have a blessed day" to customers got her fired from her bank teller job.
Polly Neace, a bank teller from Kentucky, doesn't just go to church on Sundays. She said she lives her beliefs every day.
And so, Monday through Friday, when she was working as a teller at a U.S. Bank in Walton, Kentucky, she would say the same thing to every bank customer she came in contact with.
"I say, 'Have a blessed day,' all of the time," Neace said. "All of the time. I don't feel there's any better kind of day you can have than a blessed day."
The phrase didn't appear to be an issue at first. Customers would simply thank Neace when she first began saying it.
Neace received a code of ethics violation in March 2011, claiming that several customers complained about her using the phrase.
Neace claims customers never complained, though.
But U.S. Bank said Neace took it a step further, asking customers if they accepted Jesus as their savior — an act the bank believes is unacceptable.
Neace admitted she was reprimanded and was given multiple warnings, but she continued with the phrase.
After complaining about a situation at the bank, Neace claims she jokingly told a manager she might as well go back to saying "have a blessed day" and be fired.
She was fired the next day.
"I felt very persecuted," Neace said.
She later filed a lawsuit against U.S. Bank, claiming she was "discriminated against for exercising her religious freedoms."
"I can't back down from this," Neace said. "It's the principle behind everything."
In a statement, U.S. Bank said: "At U.S. Bank, we hold our employees to high ethical standards when interacting with customers and co-workers and take violations of these standards seriously."