Beadle v. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Dept., 93-3266

• Decision Date: 23 August 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-3266,93-3266
• Parties: 65 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1069, 65 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,205 Aston A. BEADLE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, Walter C. Heinrich, Sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 589

29 F.3d 589

65 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1069,

65 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,205

Aston A. BEADLE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, Walter C.

Heinrich, Sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida,

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 93-3266.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Aug. 23, 1994.

Lee Boothby, Boothby & Yingst, Washington, DC, for appellant.

Mark A. Hanley, Thompson, Sizemore & Gonzalez, P.A., Tampa, FL, for appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before COX, Circuit Judge, MORGAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and COLLIER ^*, District Judge.

MORGAN, Senior Circuit Judge:

Appellant Aston Beadle appeals a final judgment entered against him by the United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Florida and in favor of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department ("Department"). ¹ The judgment rejects Beadle's contention that the Department violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to accommodate Beadle's religious practices and by ultimately discharging him from his employment with the Department because of his refusal to work on his sabbath. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291, and we AFFIRM.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Appellant Beadle is currently, and has been at all times pertinent to this action, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. As a practicing Seventh Day Adventist, Beadle does not engage in secular labor on his sabbath--a period lasting from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Beadle, a former employee of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Detention Department, brought this action after the Department scheduled him to work a Friday evening shift. Instead of completing his shift, Beadle left his post early in order to observe his sabbath. The Department subsequently terminated Beadle as a result of this action. Beadle's main contention at trial was that his discharge was unlawful under Title VII, as the Department had failed to "reasonably accommodate" his religious practices under the statute.

Beadle first became employed with the Sheriff's Detention Department in January of 1986, after responding to an advertised opening for employment. The Detention Department is responsible for securing the safety of the Hillsborough County prison and, as such, operates seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, year round. Although Beadle was apparently aware of this fact when he applied for the position, he never mentioned his religious need for permanent days off until he had completed his required eleven- week training period at the Corrections Recruit Academy and had received his initial work schedule.

The schedule, made pursuant to a neutral rotating shift system used by the Sheriff's Department, indicated that Beadle's first shift required that he work on Fridays and Saturdays. ² Dissatisfied with this requirement, Beadle contacted his commanding officer, Colonel David Parrish, and notified him of his religious conflict with the schedule. Parrish responded by suggesting that Beadle make a written request for permanent Fridays and Saturdays off for the Department to consider. Beadle complied, and the Department then submitted the question of whether the law required such an accommodation to its legal advisor for an opinion. While waiting for the legal opinion, the Department adjusted Beadle's work schedule so that he would not be required to work his sabbath.

In April of 1986, the Sheriff's legal advisor responded with an opinion stating that the Department was not required under Title VII to accommodate Beadle by granting him permanent days off. Based on this opinion, the Department advised Beadle that his request had been rejected. Beadle was told, however, that he was free to arrange for shift swaps with the other employees. To aid in this effort, the Department provided Beadle with a roster sheet and authorized him to advertise his need for swaps during daily roll calls and on the Department's bulletin board. The Department further allowed Beadle to request use of his sick days, vacation time and compensation time if he was unable to secure a swap.

Beadle, however, was not satisfied with the Department's response. He maintained that at the very least, his Department supervisors should actively assist him in finding replacements for shifts which conflicted with his sabbath. He also suggested as an alternative that the Department allow him to leave his post as a detention officer and to work instead as a bailiff or as a process server--jobs with the Department which traditionally required only a normal Monday through Friday work week. ³ The Department denied these requests and adhered to its original position that Beadle had been sufficiently accommodated for Title VII purposes.

Beadle was actually able to negotiate a swap with his co-workers on only two occasions. ⁴ Moreover, the Department did not always approve Beadle's requests for use of vacation or compensation time because the jail was understaffed and the granting of some of these requests could have jeopardized jail security. On one occasion when Beadle was scheduled to work his sabbath and was unable to obtain approval to use his compensation time or to negotiate a swap for his shift, he simply failed to come to work. On a second occasion, Beadle abandoned his post during the middle of his shift, leaving two other deputies alone to supervise an area of dangerous inmates. This second incident ultimately led to Beadle's termination.

II. DISCUSSION

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on the basis of that person's "race, color, religion, sex or national origin." 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2(a)(1). The term "religion" is defined in the statute as including "all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate ... employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business." 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e(j). The issue presented for our consideration on appeal is whether the Magistrate Judge erred in finding that the Department reasonably accommodated the religious practices of its employee, Aston Beadle, for purposes of Title VII. ⁵

The phrases "reasonably accommodate" and "undue hardship" are not defined within the language of Title VII. Thus, the precise reach of the employer's obligation to its employee is unclear under the statute and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. See United States v. City of Albuquerque, 545 F.2d 110, 114 (10th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 909, 97 S.Ct. 2974, 53 L.Ed.2d 1092 (1977). To aid lower courts in their analysis of these cases, the Supreme Court has provided some guidance by generally defining "undue hardship" as any act that would require an employer to bear greater than a "de minimis cost" in accommodating an employee's religious beliefs. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63, 75, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 2272, 53 L.Ed.2d 113 (1977). The Court has further stated that compliance with Title VII does not require an employer to give an employee a choice among several accommodations; nor is the employer required to demonstrate that alternative accommodations proposed by the employee constitute undue hardship. Ansonia Bd. of Educ. v. Philbrook, 479 U.S. 60, 68, 107 S.Ct. 367, 371, 93 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986). Rather, the inquiry ends when an employer shows that a reasonable accommodation was afforded the employee, regardless of whether that accommodation is one which the employee suggested. Id. We recognize and apply these guidelines in addressing the case before us.

Beadle argues that the Department failed to meet its duty to accommodate his religious practices. He contends that the Department's neutral rotating shift system and its authorization of shift swaps within the system were insufficient to meet the requirements of Title VII. We disagree.

In Hardison, the Supreme Court was presented with facts similar to those in this case. Hardison was a member of the Worldwide Church of God and also refrained from secular labor on Saturdays in observance of his sabbath. He was hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) to work as a clerk in the "Stores Department" at its Kansas City base. This Department operated twenty-four hours per day, year round. Hardison was ultimately discharged because of his refusal to work Saturdays and argued that his discharge was unlawful under Title VII because TWA had failed to reasonably accommodate his religious practices. The Supreme Court, however, found that the seniority provisions contained in the collective bargaining agreement between TWA and the union provided such accommodation. Explaining its holding, the Court stated:

It was essential to TWA's business to require Saturday and Sunday work from at least a few employees even though most employees preferred these days off. Allocating the burdens of weekend work was a matter for collective...