E.E.O.C. v. University of Detroit
| Decision Date | 31 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 89-1084,89-1226,s. 89-1084 |
| Citation | 904 F.2d 331 |
| Parties | 52 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1657, 54 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 40,058, 58 USLW 2713, 60 Ed. Law Rep. 1085 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, Robert Patrick Roesser, Intervenor-Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT and University of Detroit Professors Union, Defendants-Appellees. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, Robert Patrick Roesser, Intervenor, v. UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT and University of Detroit Professors Union, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Samuel A. Marcosson (argued), E.E.O.C., Office of the General Counsel, Washington, D.C., Mimi M. Gendreau, Equal Employment Opportunity Office, Detroit Dist. Office, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff.
David E. Kempner, Keller, Thomas, Schwarze, Schwarze, DuBay & Katz, Detroit, Mich., Bruce N. Cameron (argued), Nat. Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Springfield, Va., for intervenor-appellant.
Bruce R. Lerner, Peter O. Shinevar (argued), Robert H. Chanin, Bredhoff & Kaiser, Washington, D.C., David P. Smith (argued), Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Eli Grier, Levin, Levin, Garvett & Dill, Southfield, Mich., for defendants-appellees.
Before MARTIN and NORRIS, Circuit Judges, CONTIE, Senior Circuit Judge.
Under section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e(j), an employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious needs unless the employer demonstrates that such an accommodation would result in undue hardship. The issue in this appeal is whether an employer satisfies this statutory duty by offering an accommodation which addresses but one part of the conflict between the employee's employment obligations and sincere religious belief. The district court concluded that an employer could satisfy this obligation by proposing an accommodation which only addressed one aspect of the conflict, despite the fact that the employee was still required to compromise an essential element of a sincerely held religious belief. Because the district court erred in holding that the partial accommodation was reasonable as a matter of law, this case must be remanded to determine whether there is any accommodation, short of undue hardship, which will completely resolve the conflict at issue.
Intervenor-appellant Robert Patrick Roesser is an electrical engineer who holds a Ph.D. degree. He was hired by defendant University of Detroit as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the beginning of the 1979-1980 academic year.
The university, a private institution affiliated with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), is party to a collective bargaining agreement with defendant University of Detroit Professors Union. The union is affiliated with both the Michigan Education Association ("MEA") and the National Education Association ("NEA"). By internal union arrangement, most of the fees collected by the union are passed along to the MEA and the NEA.
Article 3.2 of the collective bargaining agreement, a typical "agency shop" clause, requires all employees represented by the union to either join the union or pay to the union, as a condition of employment, a service fee equal in amount to union dues. After he began teaching at the university, Roesser refrained from joining the union but authorized the union to deduct the agency fees from his paycheck. However, Roesser withdrew his authorization for payroll deductions when he discovered that the NEA and MEA had campaigned to protect women's rights of choice respecting abortions, 1 a position inconsistent with his own religious convictions. 2
Once the MEA's position became known to him, Roesser advised the union that his religious beliefs were incompatible with the union's position. He maintained that his religious beliefs conflict with the agency shop requirement, since they prevent him from supporting financially any organization that promotes abortion, and constrain him from associating in any way with an organization that promotes abortions. Because his religious beliefs were incompatible with either financial support or association with the MEA and NEA, Roesser refused to pay any of his agency fees. However, he offered either to pay an amount equal to his entire agency fee to charity or to remit that portion of his fee which was allocated solely to the union's local responsibilities and pay the balance to a charitable organization. The union rejected both offers.
When the university refused to consider the union's request to terminate Roesser until it first offered to accommodate his religious beliefs, the union president, Maryjo Nichols, sent a letter to Roesser. Ms. Nichols acknowledged that the union was aware of Roesser's sincere religious belief, and made this proposal:
[W]e will reduce the agency service fee required of you by an amount proportional to that percentage of the MEA budget which is even remotely connected with the alleged support of issues to which you take exception. Your agency service fee would therefore be reduced by $21.08 for the 1983-84 academic year. (Please see the enclosed reduced service fee calculation worksheet.) Similarly, your service fee would be reduced by an additional $7.78 based on NEA budget figures.
Roesser rejected the union's proposed accommodation and explained his decision as follows:
Regardless of the amount of the fee that I might pay, a percentage as estimated will be used to support issues to which I object. The choice I must make is to either pay nothing, in which case no support goes to objectionable issues, or to pay a reduced amount, in which case a percentage goes to the support of objectionable issues. Since I believe that abortion is absolutely wrong I must choose the course that minimizes the support of it. The gravity of this issue is so great that I must consider my job expendable.
The second reason I cannot accept the offer is that the support of objectionable issues is so intertwined throughout MEA/NEA that it cannot be reasonably separated. This is clearly demonstrated by the indicated calculation for service fee reduction supplied by MEA. It calls out at least 26 items which range widely over their operations. The objectionable issues are supported not only by the budgeted amounts but also by the weight and influence of the entire MEA and NEA. There is just no dealing with something that is inherently wrong.
Concluding that the union had done all that it was required to do, the university informed Roesser that he was being terminated.
Roesser subsequently filed an administrative complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") against the university and the union. The EEOC found that there was reasonable cause to believe that a violation had occurred. When its attempt at conciliation failed, the EEOC filed suit against the university and the union in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The complaint alleged that the university engaged in an unlawful employment practice in violation of sections 703(a) and (c) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 2000e-2(a) and (c), because it discharged Roesser because of his sincerely held religious beliefs. Roesser's request to intervene was granted.
The district court determined that defendants were entitled to summary judgment since the union's rebate accommodation was reasonable as a matter of law and that, in any case, Roesser's proposals would work an undue hardship upon the union. 701 F.Supp. 1326. It is from this decision that Roesser and the EEOC now appeal.
The district court granted summary judgment after concluding that there were no genuine issues of material fact which remained for trial. This court, therefore, must now apply a de novo standard of review, making all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party to determine if a genuine issue of material fact indeed exists. Pinney Dock and Transp. Co. v. Penn Cent. Corp., 838 F.2d 1445, 1472 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 880, 109 S.Ct. 196, 102 L.Ed.2d 166 (1988); Bouldis v. United States Suzuki Motor Corp., 711 F.2d 1319, 1324 (6th Cir.1983).
Section 701(j) was added to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et seq., in order to secure for individuals who are privately employed the same constitutional protections as individuals who are employed by the federal,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Vetter v. Farmland Industries, Inc.
...one concern, missing church services, but not the "principal objection," which was to working on Saturday); EEOC v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 334 (6th Cir.1990). 4. Accommodation in this Accommodation of Vetter's religious beliefs, which he believed required him to live in an act......
-
E.E.O.C. v. Uia
...Educ., 757 F.2d 476, 487 (2nd Cir.1985), aff'd on other grounds, 479 U.S. 60, 107 S.Ct. 367, 93 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986); EEOC v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331 (6th Cir.1990); Tooley v. Martin-Marietta Corp., 648 F.2d 1239 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1098, 102 S.Ct. 671, 70 L.Ed.2d 6......
-
Timmer v. Michigan Dept. of Commerce
...review a grant of summary judgment de novo, making all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. EEOC v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 334 (6th Cir.1990). Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, toge......
- In re JCP Props., Ltd.
-
Religious discrimination
...1988); Smith v. Pyro Mining Co. , 827 F.2d 1081 (6th Cir. 1987)); 3. Opposition to Abortion ; ( see, e.g. , E.E.O.C. v. Univ. of Detroit , 904 F.2d 331 (6th Cir. 1990); Haring v. Blumenthal , 471 F. Supp. 1172 (D.D.C. 1979)); 4. Wearing Religious Attire ; ( see, e.g. , E.E.O.C. v. Presbyter......