HR Update- Religious Accommodation February 2008 Case
EEO - Religious Discrimination
Worker’s Religious Needs Were Accommodated, Court Decides
Firestone Fibers and Textiles Co. reasonably accommodated a laboratory employee’s religious observances in compliance with Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by providing several options for him not to work during his weekly Sabbath and religious holidays, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Feb. 11 2008 (EEOC v. Firestone Fibers & Textiles Co., 4th Cir., No. 06-2203, 2/11/08).
Affirming a lower court’s dismissal of the case, the appeals court rejected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s argument that a reasonable accommodation must totally eliminate the conflict between the employee’s religious practice and a work requirement. The appeals court said that it is appropriate to consider the impact on the employer and co-workers when determining whether an accommodation is reasonable.
Shift Changed After Layoffs
Beginning in December 1994, David Wise worked in a testing laboratory for tire cord fabric at Firestone Fibers’ two facilities in Gastonia and Kings Mountain, N.C. Each laboratory requires four employees per shift.
In 2001, Wise joined the Living Church of God. His religion prohibits him from working on the Sabbath, which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and on about 20 days of religious holidays per year.
Wise initially did not have a problem because he worked from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and used annual leave for religious holidays falling on weekdays.
However, following a series of layoffs and restructurings, in February 2002 he was assigned to work from 3 to 11 p.m., Monday through Friday as well as on most Saturdays. The bargaining contract with the United Steelworkers provides a seniority-based system for employees to bid on shifts. Other employees with more seniority had taken all the available day shift jobs.
The contract also provided Wise with 15 days of annual leave and three floating holidays per year, allowed employees to swap shifts twice per quarter for a maximum of eight times per year, and allowed them to take up to 60 hours of unpaid leave, some of it in half-day increments along with half days of annual leave. Employees who took more than 60 hours of unpaid leave would be terminated.
From February to September 2002, Wise used annual leave, floating holidays, and unpaid leave to avoid working on the Sabbath or religious holidays.
After exhausting all his leave, Wise requested unpaid leave for 11 days of religious holidays in September. Firestone Fibers denied the request, explaining that it had granted similar requests by other employees only if they were for nonrecurring events. Wise did not report for work on the religious holidays and was fired once he exceeded 60 hours of unpaid leave.
After Wise filed an EEOC charge alleging failure to accommodate his religious observances in violation of Title VII, the commission sued Firestone Fibers on his behalf. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina dismissed the case.
Upholding the lower court, the appeals court said that religion in the workplace “coexists” with “intensely secular arrangements such as collective bargaining agreements and with the intensely secular pressures of the marketplace.”
Firestone Fibers provided reasonable accommodation through the provision of annual leave, floating holidays, and unpaid leave and the allowance of shift swaps, the appeals court said.
EEOC argued that Firestone Fibers should have excused Wise from the 60-hour limit on unpaid leave. But the appeals court found that “Title VII does not require an employer to violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement” or “to adversely impact or infringe on the rights of other employees when accommodating religious observances.” The court observed that whenever Wise took leave, a co-worker “would typically have to work overtime to cover his shift.”
Randall Barker is the VP of Human Resources for A Plus Benefits, Inc.
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