Hershey Entertainment & Resorts is asking the federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an employee who is disgruntled she was asked to escort a transgender person into a resort locker room.
The company says that Jeriah Seller’s right to religious freedom cannot compel the company into discriminating against other classes of people.
But Sellers, who sued in October 2025 for religious discrimination after she was suspended for a day for violating the company policy involving trans clients, says the company is mischaracterizing her request.
Sellers, an employee at the MeltSpa in Hershey, said she’s willing to serve transgender guests other than by giving transgender women tours of the women’s locker room.
She said she just wants a coworker to step in to give the tours. But to grant the accommodation Sellers asked for, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts would have to violate the same laws Sellers is filing her claims under, the company argued in its response.
MeltSpa, located in downtown Hershey owned by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, the same company that owns HersheyPark.
Sellers, a Lebanon County resident who self-describes as a devout Christian, sued the company on religious discrimination and retaliation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act in response to the suspension in June 2025.
Sellers told her manager she was uncomfortable escorting a transgender woman into the women’s locker room May 28, so the manager did the tour for her. Human resources met with Sellers a week later and informed her she’d be written up and suspended for a day for violating Hershey Entertainment & Resorts’ transgender policy, the lawsuit said.
Human resources told Sellers to leave her personal, religious and political beliefs at the door, the lawsuit said.
Hershey Entertainment Resorts argued in its motion to dismiss filed in January that Sellers failed to properly allege Hershey violated the law, and thus the lawsuit should be canned.
To prove her religious discrimination claims, Sellers needs to show she had a sincere religious belief that conflicts with the job requirement, she informed her employer of the conflict, and she was disciplined for failing to comply with the conflicting requirement.
Sellers said she asked for and received an accommodation in the form of not having to escort a transgender woman into a spa locker room. But Hershey said requesting religious accommodation is not a protected activity, and Sellers can’t sue on the theory she was retaliated against for it.
To grant that ”absurd” accommodation, Hershey continued in its filings, would be to treat transgender clients differently than cisgender clients — flying directly in the face of the provisions prohibiting discrimination in under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the PHRA.
“Can a … Palestinian refuse to serve an Israeli Jew? Can a Caucasian refuse to service an African American?” Hershey said. “To recognize such an accommodation condones discrimination at its worst, allows a MeltSpa employee to … discriminate against guests, and opens Pandora’s box.”
Sellers said Hershey is mischaracterizing her argument as a refusal to serve transgender guests. She said she was willing to provide all services to transgender guests short of escorting into a locker room.
Sellers, in a second reply to Hershey’s filings, said Hershey did not “punish” her May 28th request until after she explained her religious beliefs.
Hershey also said Sellers did not exhaust her administrative remedies. Before suing an employer or former employer in court, plaintiffs need to file reports with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.