Chrysler Corp. v. Mann

• Decision Date: 14 September 1977
• Docket Number: No. 76-1196,76-1196
• Citation: 561 F.2d 1282
• Parties: 15 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 788, 15 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 7834 CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. Curtis L. MANN, Trustee in Bankruptcy of William H. Blakely, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1282

561 F.2d 1282

15 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 788, 15 Empl. Prac.

Dec. P 7834

CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. Curtis L. MANN, Trustee in Bankruptcy of William H. Blakely, Appellee.

No. 76-1196.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Jan. 10, 1977.

Decided Sept. 14, 1977.

Charles A. Newman, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant; Edwin D. Akers, Jr., Donald J. Stohr, St. Louis, Mo., and A. William Rolf, Chrysler Corp., Gen. Atty., Detroit, Mich., on the brief.

Louis Gilden, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

Before GIBSON, Chief Judge, BRIGHT, Circuit Judge, and HANSON, District Judge. ^*

GIBSON, Chief Judge.

Defendant Chrysler Corporation appeals from a judgment of the District Court in favor of plaintiff William Blakely. ¹ Plaintiff's suit charging religious discrimination was brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (1970), as amended, (Supp. V 1975), against Chrysler, his former employer, and against Local 136 of the UAW, his union. After a trial to the court, judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff and against defendant Chrysler, and in favor of the defendant Union.

Plaintiff Blakely was employed in the Trim Department at Chrysler's St. Louis Car Assembly Plant from February 15, 1965, until July 10, 1972. Blakely was baptized as a member of the World Wide Church of God in February 1971. The World Wide Church of God proscribes work by its members on the Sabbath or on holy days. The weekly World Wide Church of God Sabbath occurs between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday; each holy day commences at sundown on the day prior to the holy day and continues until the following sundown.

During Blakely's tenure at Chrysler, employees worked eight hours per day, Monday through Friday. Overtime work on Saturdays was scheduled from time to time. As a result of negotiations between Chrysler and the Union, the Trim Department had a quota system, whereby a certain number of employees could be excused from work on any day, including Saturday, and replaced by extra employees. The collective bargaining agreement between Chrysler and the Union also contained a provision permitting each employee a maximum of five paid absences per year. No reason whatsoever had to be given by an employee for these absences, which were deemed excused. Moreover, the collective bargaining agreement also provided for unpaid leaves of absence for good cause.

Between August 1971 and June 1972, Blakely had six unexcused absences from work which he stated were for religious reasons. ² Blakely chose not to use his paid excused absences for religious purposes. Nor did he request a leave of absence to excuse his religious observances. Chrysler's graduated disciplinary system for unexcused absences provided for initial warnings, followed by suspensions of varying lengths and, ultimately, discharge. In accordance with this system, Blakely served one one-day lay-off and one three-day lay-off. ³ During the three-day lay-off, which occurred in late June 1972, Blakely filed charges with the EEOC alleging that he had been subjected to religious discrimination by Chrysler and the Union.

On July 7, 1972, Blakely was informed that he was to be assessed a five-day disciplinary lay-off because of his sixth unexcused absence, but that he probably would not have to serve the lay-off. He was shown a supervisor's report concerning his absences. Apparently considering this report pertinent to the charges he had filed with the EEOC, he requested that he be given a copy. When this request was denied pursuant to long-standing Chrysler policy, Blakely took the report from his supervisor. ⁴ Despite the directives, requests and warnings of various representatives of Chrysler and the Union, including the warning that his failure to return the report would place his job in jeopardy, Blakely took the report from the premises. He returned the report later on the same day after obtaining copies.

On July 10, 1972, Blakely was discharged for insubordination and unauthorized use of company records. ⁵ The Union, on its own initiative, filed a grievance protesting Blakely's discharge. The settlement agreement which ultimately ensued provided for Blakely's reinstatement with full seniority but without back pay. Blakely rejected this settlement offer. Following his discharge, he filed a complaint with the EEOC, and subsequently brought this suit against Chrysler and the Union, seeking reinstatement with full seniority, back pay and costs, including attorney fees.

The trial court held that Chrysler had violated Title VII by discharging Blakely because of its antagonism toward his religious beliefs and by failing to establish that an accommodation of his religious beliefs would have constituted an undue hardship. Chrysler was ordered to reinstate Blakely and to pay him $9,867.52 in back wages and $3,300.00 for attorney fees. The Union was absolved of liability by the trial court's holding that it had not violated any duty owed Blakely and had not acted so as to obstruct an accommodation by Chrysler.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against an employee on the basis of religion. A 1972 amendment to Title VII defines religion The term "religion" includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j).

A mutuality of obligation inheres in the employer-employee relationship. Title VII does not supplant this mutuality, but, using it as a necessary background, simply adds detail to certain areas of the relationship which are to remain free of discrimination. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j) thus has little meaning if it is considered only at an abstract level apart from the complementary nature of the duties that employer and employee owe one another, for a successful accommodation will rarely be possible unless employer and employee make mutual efforts. A failure of cooperation by either party will clearly lessen the chances of achieving a reasonable accommodation.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j) delimits an employer's ultimate duty of accommodation in terms of the imposition of an undue hardship on the conduct of its business. The statute does not explicitly address, however, the penultimate duties of the employee, inherent in his relationship to his employer, to attempt to accommodate his beliefs himself and to cooperate with attempts at reasonable accommodation by his employer. An employee cannot shirk his duties to try to accommodate himself or to cooperate with his employer in reaching an accommodation by a mere recalcitrant citation of religious precepts. Nor can he thereby shift all responsibility for accommodation to his employer. Where an employee refuses to attempt to accommodate his own beliefs or to cooperate with his employer's attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation, he may render an accommodation impossible. In such a case, the employee himself is responsible for any failure of accommodation and his employer should not be held liable for such failure.

In discussing the extent of the employer's required accommodation to an employee's religious beliefs, the Supreme Court in Trans World Airlines, Inc., v. Hardison, --- U.S. ----, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 53 L.Ed.2d 113 (1977), held that an employer was not required to carve out a special exception to its seniority provisions in order to help the employee "meet his religious obligations." Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, supra at ----, 97 S.Ct. at 2276. The Court ascertained that the paramount concern of Congress in enacting Title VII "was the elimination of discrimination in employment" and it would not, therefore, "readily construe the statute to require an employer to discriminate against some employees in order to enable others to observe their Sabbath." Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, supra at ----, 97 S.Ct. at 2277. Nor do we think that an employer should have to adjust its entire work schedule to accommodate individual religious preferences and practices, particularly where procedures and scheduling already provide a measure of...