Sun Worshipping Atheist Loses Religious Discrimination Suit

In religious discrimination cases under Title VII, courts are often reluctant to “play God” by deciding what is or is not a sincerely held religious belief or practice. The cases usually hinge on whether the employer reasonably accommodated the employee’s religious conflict with a workplace policy, or whether the requested accommodation imposed an undue hardship on the employer.  As noted in my original article “The Employee with the Dragon Tattoo”, even tattoos and piercings have been recognized as sincerely held religious practices.

However, the California Court of Appeals has held that a prison guard’s self-created church of “Sun Worshiping Atheism” is not a protected religion, and the employer had no duty to accommodate the plaintiff’s belief in getting a full night’s sleep by waiving mandatory overtime hours. [Marshel Copple v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Cal. Ct. App. 4^th Dist.)]

When hired at the prison, Marshel Copple was told there was mandatory overtime. However, shortly after being hired, he requested to work only 8 hour shifts based on Sun Worshiping Atheism’s religious tenets of praying in the sun, exercising, socializing, getting fresh air, sleeping well and being skeptical in all things.  When the prison declined to accommodate his request, he refused to work three overtime shifts and subsequently resigned, claiming constructive discharge. He filed an EEOC Charge, which was dismissed and and subsequently brought suit under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.  Following a summary judgment ruling against him in a lower court, he appealed the adverse ruling.

In affirming the dismissal of the lawsuit, the California appellate court held that religions address “fundamental and ultimate questions having to do with deep and imponderable matters”, and that Sun Worshiping Atheism was simply a practice of living a healthy lifestyle, with none of the trappings of a religion.

In my post “Sign of the Beast Hand Scanning Case Provides Valuable Lesson to Employers", I discussed how an employer’s failure to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs resulted in a high dollar jury verdict for the employee.  In that case, the employee was denied a reasonable accommodation to his religious belief that the technology behind the employer’s hand scanning time clock system had a connection to the “mark of the beast”  as alluded to in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible. 

However in a recent similar case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found in favor of the employer, where the employee refused to provide a Social Security number because he considered it the “mark of the beast.”  In Yeager v. FirstEnergy Generation Corp. (6^th Cir.), the Sixth Circuit held an employer has no duty to accommodate a religious belief where such an accommodation would violate a federal statute, which in this case, required the employer to collect and report the Social Security numbers of their employees.

Mark Fijman is a labor and employment attorney with Phelps Dunbar, LLP, which has offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and London. To view his firm bio, click here. He can be reached at (601) 360-9716 and by e-mail at fijmanm@phelps.com

Settlement in HIV Termination Lawsuit Highlights Continuing Employer Confusion over ADA

A nationwide manufacturer and distributor of fruit juice will pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of an employee who was terminated after the company learned he was HIV-positive. [EEOC v. Gregory Packaging, Inc. (N.D. Ga.]  The fact that the employer specifically told the man he was being terminated because of his HIV status highlights continuing employer confusion over the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), even twenty-five years after its passage, and especially as it relates to employees with HIV/AIDS.

The plaintiff in the case was employed as a machine operator at the Newnan, Georgia facility of Gregory Packaging, Inc., a company that sells juice products to school districts and medical institutions. When the employee developed a skin rash unrelated to his HIV, rumors began to circulate among other employees that the employee’s rash was the result of AIDS.  In an effort to quash the rumors, the employee informed his supervisor that while he did have HIV, the skin condition was unrelated, and there was no danger of him transmitting HIV to food products or co-workers.  Despite his good job performance, and no evidence of a health risk, the employee was terminated approximately a month later.  He was informed the reason he was being fired was because he had HIV.

The employee declined a separation agreement offered by the company, which included a release of claims. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) subsequently brought a lawsuit on the employee’s behalf, alleging violations of the ADA and similar claims brought under Georgia state law.  Despite the company’s early efforts to fight the lawsuit, the case was settled pursuant to a court-approved consent order, which provided for the $125,000 payment by the New Jersey based company, and required equal employment opportunity training and reporting to the EEOC.

What is most surprising about this case, is that even before the ADA’s expansion under the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act (“ADAAA”), it was generally established that a person with HIV/AIDS met the Act’s definition of an individual with a disability.  Furthermore, as noted in EEOC guidelines, even those who are regarded as having HIV/AIDS are protected under the Act, even if they do not have the disease.  The example given by the EEOC is a person being fired on the basis of a rumor that he had AIDS, even though he was not infected.

Employers involved in the food and restaurant industry are often at the focus of these types of lawsuits. As was the case at Gregory’s Georgia facility, the situation is often fueled and exacerbated  by rumors spread by co-workers or customers, and fears of HIV/AIDS being transmitted through an employee’s contact with food products.   

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, HIV/AIDS is not a disease that can be transmitted through food handling. Diseases that can be transmitted by an infected person handling food include (1) noroviruses, (2) the Hepatitis A virus, (3) Salmonella, (4) Shigella, (5) Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus.  For more detailed information, employers in the food service/restaurant industry can find guidance through the EEOC publication “How to Comply with the Americans withDisabilities Act: A Guide for Restaurants and Other Food Service Employers.”

Employer’s also need to be aware that in the context of HIV/AIDS, the ADA also protects employees who do not have the disease, but have an association or relationship with someone who does.  In the EEOC guidelines, examples of employment discrimination against persons with HIV or AIDS include:

•         An automobile manufacturing company that had a blanket policy of refusing to hire anyone with HIV or AIDS.

•         An airline that extended an offer to a job applicant and then rescinded the offer after the employer discovered (during the post-offer physical) that the applicant had HIV.

•         A restaurant that fired a waitress after learning that the waitress had HIV.

•         A university that fired a physical education instructor after learning that the instructor’s boyfriend had AIDS.

•         A County tax assessment office that cancelled training opportunities for an accountant following her disclosure that she had HIV.

•         A retail store that generally rotated all sales associates between the sales floor (where they could earn commissions) and the stock room (where they processed merchandise) except for the sales associate who was rumored to have HIV, who was never rotated to the floor.

•         A call center employee who was denied a promotion to shift manager because his employer believed the employee would be unreliable since he had AIDS.

•         A company that contracted with an insurance company that had a cap on health insurance benefits provided to employees for HIV-related complications, but not on other health insurance benefits.

While the ADA does include a “direct threat” defense in regard to employees who pose a significant risk of substantial harm to the health and safety of the employee or others, the defense  requires medical or other objective evidence, as opposed to subjective beliefs or assumptions based on stereotypes.  However, the take-away from this case is that proper training of supervisors in addressing ADA issues is a much better and less expensive option than having to establish defenses after a suit has been filed.

Mark Fijman is a labor and employment attorney with Phelps Dunbar, LLP, which has offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and London. To view his firm bio, click here. He can be reached at (601) 360-9716 and by e-mail at fijmanm@phelps.com





EEOC Says “Do as I Say” and “Pay no Attention to What I Do” in Background Check Battle

            In its litigation offensive against employers over the use of criminal/credit background checks in making employment decisions, the federal agency is getting put on the spot over its own employment practices in two high profile cases. 
 

            In earlier posts, I discussed the EEOC’s lawsuits against national retailer Dollar General, and car maker BMW Manufacturing Co., alleging that the employers’ criminal background check policies systematically discriminated against African-American job applicants or existing employees.
 

            In the Dollar General case, the EEOC is currently fighting a motion to compel filed by the retailer, in which Dollar General is asking a U.S. District Court in Illinois to force the anti-discrimination agency to disclose its own policies on using background checks and criminal histories in employment decisions.  In a South Carolina District Court, BMW also has filed a similar motion to compel, seeking all of the EEOC’s documents regarding its policies and guidelines for evaluating the criminal records of individuals applying to work for the federal agency.
 

            Not surprisingly, the EEOC is arguing to the Courts in both cases that it should not be required to turn over the information, claiming the agency’s own practices are irrelevant to the allegations against the two companies.  In response, BMW, echoing an earlier response by Dollar General, noted to the Court:
 

This is not the first time that the EEOC has refused to provide information about its own employee screening policies and procedures while claiming that the policies and procedures of others are        unlawful . . . [a]nd, in all cases, courts have concluded that the information is relevant to issues of business necessity and estoppel and have compelled the EEOC to provide it.

The other cases BMW and Dollar General are referring to likely include the crushing defeat handed to the EEOC earlier this year by the United States Court of Appeals in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Kaplan Higher Education Corporation.  In that case the EEOC sued the educational services company for implementing credit checks after discovering that some employees had stolen student’s financial aid payments. The credit check policy applied to job applicants seeking positions where they would have access to cash or financial information. The EEOC claimed the policy disproportionally impacted “more African-American applicants than white applicants.”
 

In its affirmation of the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the company, the Sixth Circuit blasted the EEOC’s disparate impact theory of liability. In ruling against the EEOC, the Sixth Circuit noted that pursuant to its own personnel handbook, the EEOC runs the very same type of credit checks on its employees because “[o]verdue just debts increase temptation to commit illegal or unethical acts as a means of gaining funds to meet financial obligations.” The court specifically and wryly noted that this was the very same reason that Kaplan adopted its policy. 





EEOC “Spam” Gets a Green Light

          Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “spam” as an “unsolicited usually commercial e-mail sent to a large number of addresses” or “a canned meat product.”  Another definition may now be “an aggressive investigative tactic of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) which has been given a green light by the courts.”

On September 24, 2014, a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington, DC announced he will dismiss a lawsuit over the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) sending a blast of more than 1300 e-mails to a company’s employees, requesting they supply information to the agency as part of an investigation into allegations of age discrimination.

In my October 2013 post, “You’ve Got (Mass) Mail . . . From the EEOC?”, I discussed the federal lawsuit filed by construction equipment maker Case New Holland (“CNH”) in which the company alleged the EEOC unconstitutionally solicited or “trolled” the company’s employees to become class members in a potential age discrimination class action.

Prior to the e-mail blitz, the company had cooperated with the EEOC’s investigative requests by producing ten of thousands of page of documents and hundreds of thousands of electronic documents.  The company heard nothing more from the agency for more than a year and a half, until the incident that caused the company to sue the EEOC.

At 8:00 a.m. on June 5, 2013, the EEOC conducted a mass e-mailing to the business e-mail addresses of 1330 CNH employees across the United States and Canada. Over 200 of the recipients were members of management. The e-mail stated the EEOC was conducting “a federal investigation” and making “an official inquiry” into allegations that CNH discriminated against job applicants and employees, and contained a link to an on-line series of questions regarding alleged discrimination. It also asked for the employee’s birth date, address and telephone number. The EEOC’s on-line survey instructed CNH employees to “Please complete and submit this electronic questionnaire as soon as possible.”

The e-mail had been sent without any advance notice to CNH and according to the lawsuit, the mass mailing disrupted CNH’s business operations at the start of the workday and communicated to employees they should cease their legitimate work duties and instead immediately respond to the agency’s questions. A significant concern was the company’s belief that the EEOC had deliberately cut the employer out of the investigatory process, and had solicited members of management, whose statements arguably could have bound the company.

CNH filed its lawsuit on August 1, 2013, alleging that the EEOC’s mass e-mailing: (1) was not authorized by any EEOC rule or regulation, (2) violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act, (3) constituted an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment, (4) violated the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment, and (5) violated the EEOC’s own compliance manual, which requires that an employer be allowed to have a spokesman or attorney present during an interview of management employees, and that advance notice be given. The suit claims the EEOC engages in bullying tactics to force companies into monetary settlements of questionable claims.

However, in his ruling announcing his plans to dismiss CNH’s lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton stated that the company lacked standing to bring the suit because it was not able to establish how it was injured by the EEOC’s investigatory tactic, other than vague allegations of business disruptions.  Judge Walton announced he would issue a written opinion dismissing the case within the next two months.  At this time, the company has not announced if it plans to appeal the ruling.

Although the EEOC had never before utilized e-mail at this scale to try and identify alleged victims of discrimination, it had argued to the court that the tactic was clearly within the agency’s investigatory authority.

With the U.S. District Court giving the green light to the EEOC’s investigatory “spam”, at least for the time being, it appears highly likely that employers will be seeing much more of this tactic.  From the EEOC’s perspective, it is cheaper and quicker then actually sending investigators to a workplace, and has the added benefit of being able to target thousands of potential plaintiffs/class members with the click of a mouse.  Also, as noted in CNH's lawsuit, it has the effect of allowing the EEOC to cut the employer out of the investigative process.

Mark Fijman is a labor and employment attorney with Phelps Dunbar, LLP, which has offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and London. To view his firm bio, click here. He can be reached at (601) 360-9716 and by e-mail at fijmanm@phelps.com

EEOC Targets Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in Lawsuit Against Restaurant Franchisee

 

 

      A Florida company that owns franchise restaurants, such as Applebee’s and Panera Bread, has been sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) for making its employees sign mandatory arbitration agreements.  The lawsuit, filed September 18, 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is the latest instance of the EEOC targeting employer practices which the agency  views as limiting employees’ right to file charges of discrimination or bring lawsuits under Title VII and other employment discrimination statutes.

            According to the agency’s allegations in EEOC v. Doherty Enterprises, Inc. (Civil Action No. 9:14-cv-81184-KAM), the company “requires each prospective employee to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement as  a condition of employment.  The agreement  mandates that all employment-related claims -- which would otherwise allow  resort to the EEOC -- shall be submitted to and deter­mined exclusively by  binding arbitration.”  The EEOC alleges the arbitration agreements interfere with employees' rights to file discrimination charges and “violates Section 707 of Title VII of the Civil  Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employer conduct that constitutes a pattern  or practice of resistance to the rights protected by Title VII.

            The lawsuit is not surprising since the EEOC made it clear in its 2013 – 2016 Strategic Enforcement Plan that “[t]he EEOC will target policies and practices that discourage or prohibit individuals from exercising their rights under employment discrimination statutes, or that impede the EEOC's investigative or enforcement efforts.”  However, while these type of “test” cases by the agency result in substantial legal costs for employers, the EEOC does not seem to have been getting much bang for its buck when it actually gets in front of a federal judge.

            As noted in my September 21, 2014 posting, “EEOC Experiences “Separation Anxiety”in Lawsuit Against CVS”, last week the EEOC suffered a big defeat in their controversial lawsuit against CVS Pharmacy, over the drug store chain’s use of separation agreements for departing employees.  In that lawsuit, the EEOC had taken the same approach as it has in this latest case, alleging the drug store chain’s use of very standardized separation agreements demonstrated a pattern and practice of CVS interfering with employees' Title VII in a way that “deters the filing of charges and interferes with employees' ability to communicate voluntarily with the EEOC.” 

            In comments about the agency’s lawsuit against Doherty Enterprises, EEOC Regional Counsel Robert E. Weisberg left little doubt that more lawsuits over arbitration agreements can be expected:

"Employee communication with the  EEOC is integral to the agency's mission of eradicating employment discrimination.  When an employer forces all complaints about  employment discrimination into confidential arbitration, it shields itself from  federal oversight of its employment practices.   This practice violates the law, and the EEOC will take action to deter further use of these types of overly broad arbitration agreements."

           
        As was the case of separation agreements in the CVS lawsuit, mediation agreements are commonly used by employers nationwide, and the EEOC’s litigation focus is troubling to the business community.  For employers who utilize arbitration agreements, it would be advisable to have them reviewed by legal counsel.

 Mark Fijman is a labor and employment attorney with Phelps Dunbar, LLC, which has offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and London. To view his firm bio, click here. He can be reached at (601) 360-9716 and by e-mail at fijmanm@phelps.com