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Fourth Circuit Finds Interests of Employer and Other Employees Not Trumped by Religious Accommodation

An employer is not required to completely accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs where it would create a significant negative impact on co-workers and the employer, a federal appeals court in Richmond has held. EEOC v. Firestone Fibers & Textiles Co., No. 06-2203 (4th Cir. Feb. 11, 2008). In affirming a lower court’s granting of summary judgment, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found it appropriate to consider the impact on the employer and co-workers in determining whether an accommodation of an employee’s religion is reasonable. The Fourth Circuit has jurisdiction over Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

David Wise, a laboratory worker, was a member of the Living Church of God. Wise’s religion prohibited him from working on the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and on approximately 20 religious holidays per year. The company initially accommodated Wise by providing him a schedule of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. The company permitted Wise to use his annual leave for religious holidays that fell on weekdays.

After a series of layoffs and restructurings, the company changed Wise’s schedule to 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Friday and most Saturdays. The bargaining contract with the union provided a seniority-based system for employees to bid on shifts. Other employees had more seniority than Wise and took the available day-shifts, leaving Wise in an evening shift that conflicted with his religious observances.

The union contract provided Wise with 15 days of annual leave and three floating holidays per year. The contract allowed employees to swap shifts twice per quarter, up to eight times per year. Employees also could take up to 60 hours of unpaid leave. Employees taking more than 60 hours of unpaid leave would be terminated. In 2002, Wise exhausted all his annual, floating, and unpaid leave for religious holidays. After being denied further leave, Wise failed to report to work and was terminated. He filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency sued the employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for religious discrimination. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The employer conceded that the EEOC had shown a prima facie case of religious discrimination, but argued that it had provided Wise with a reasonable accommodation for his religious observances. The company asserted that any further accommodation would impose an undue hardship on it. Acknowledging that the needs of a secular workplace and the needs of an individual’s religious beliefs always may not be in accord, the Fourth Circuit held that a workplace need not eliminate totally any conflicts between the religious practice and work requirements in order to “reasonably accommodate” an employee’s religious beliefs.

The court found that, by requiring an accommodation be “reasonable,” Congress did not intend to provide complete or total accommodation to an employee’s religious beliefs. The term “reasonable” requires consideration of more than the effectiveness of the accommodation in addressing the employee’s needs. The court found it appropriate to consider an accommodation’s impact on both the employer and co-workers.

The Fourth Circuit held that Firestone Fibers had offered Wise numerous ways of taking time off when necessary and allowed most employees an opportunity to meet all of their religious observances. 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. Because a co-worker would typically have to work overtime to cover Wise’s shifts, and the times Wise wanted off were highly desirable, the Fourth Circuit held that accommodating Wise’s religious needs would have imposed an undue hardship on Firestone. The Fourth Circuit concluded that Firestone Fibers was not legally required to go that far to accommodate Mr. Wise’s religious beliefs.

The Fourth Circuit’s ruling provides employers with some protection when dealing with exceptionally burdensome requests to accommodate the religious observances of an employee. Nevertheless, employers should seek guidance from legal counsel before terminating an employee based on conduct that is driven by religious belief.