McDaniel v. Essex Intern., Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 February 1978
• Citation: 571 F.2d 338
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
• Parties: 16 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 904, 16 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 8137, 83 Lab.Cas. P 10,381 Doris McDANIEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ESSEX INTERNATIONAL, INC., a/k/a Essex Wire, and Lodge 982, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Defendants-Appellees. No 76-1674.

Page 338

571 F.2d 338

16 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 904, 16 Empl. Prac.

Dec. P 8137,

83 Lab.Cas. P 10,381

Doris McDANIEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ESSEX INTERNATIONAL, INC., a/k/a Essex Wire, and Lodge 982 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Defendants-Appellees.

No 76-1674.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 7, 1977.

Decided Feb. 22, 1978.

Lee Boothby, Berrien Springs, Mich., for plaintiff-appellant.

Thomas J. Kircher, Cincinnati, Ohio, John O'B. Clarke, Jr., Washington, D. C., for Local Lodge 982.

Abner W. Sibal, Joseph T. Eddins, Jr., Beatrice Rosenberg, Raj K. Gupta, Equal Employment Opportunity Comm., Washington, D. C., for amicus curiae E.E.O.C.

Robert J. Chovanec, John D. Tully (Essex Internat'l.), Warner, Norcross & Judd, Grand Rapids, Mich., Gordon J. Quist (Local 982), Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummisky, Grand Rapids, Mich., Daniel W. Rudy, Frederick F. Thornburg, Thornburg, McGill, Deahl, Harman, Carey & Murray, South Bend, Ind., Frank L. Gallucci, Essex Group, Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., for defendants-appellees.

Before LIVELY and KEITH, Circuit Judges, and NEESE, ^* District Judge.

LIVELY, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by a Seventh-day Adventist who was discharged by her employer for refusing to pay union dues. One of the questions presented is whether section 8(a)(3), (b)(2) of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), (b)(2) (1970) ¹ represents an accommodation to the religious beliefs and practices of an employee who adheres to the doctrine of a church which teaches that its members should refrain from joining unions and paying union dues.

The employer, Essex International, Inc. (Essex), entered into a collective bargaining agreement (the agreement) with the International Association of Machinists, Local Lodge No. 982 (IAM) prior to the time of plaintiff's employment. The agreement contained a union security clause which required employees to join IAM within 45 days after employment began and to pay an initiation fee and regular dues. The plaintiff advised both Essex and IAM that her religious convictions prevented her from complying with the union security provision of the agreement. The plaintiff requested Essex and IAM to make an accommodation to her religious beliefs and suggested that she would be willing to contribute an amount equal to the union dues to a non-sectarian charity to be chosen by Essex and IAM. Neither Essex nor IAM responded to the plaintiff's requests and she was discharged on December 28, 1972.

This action was brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq. Section 703(a) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a), makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any individual in employment matters because of that person's religion. Section 703(c)(3), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(c)(3), makes it an unlawful employment practice for a union "to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section." In her complaint the plaintiff charged that both Essex and IAM refused to make any accommodation to her sincerely held religious beliefs. She sought reinstatement to her former employment, back pay, damages and injunctive relief and an allowance of attorney fees. In other counts she sought the same relief, claiming violation of her rights under the First, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and violation of the Michigan Constitution and Fair Employment Practices Act.

Essex filed an answer in which it denied that plaintiff's civil rights had been violated and set forth the provision of the union security clause which required it to discharge any employee within three days after notification by IAM that such employee was not in good standing. IAM filed a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b), Fed.R.Civ.P., for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or in the alternative, for summary judgment. Essex joined in this motion. The basic contention of IAM throughout this litigation was stated in its motion . . . whatever religious interests may be involved must be subordinated to the clear intent of Congress to sponsor a sharing of the total cost of collective bargaining among all who are represented.

This argument perceives the provisions of Taft-Hartley which permit a collective bargaining agreement to require union membership as a condition of employment but prevent discharge at the behest of a union for any reason other than failure to pay uniformly charged dues as an accommodation to religious scruples against union membership. The defendants rely on cases that arose before the effective date of the 1964 Act which held that the "fair share" requirements of the Taft-Hartley Act and the Railway Labor Act were within the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause and did not violate the First or Fifth Amendments. Railway Employes' Dept. v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225, 76 S.Ct. 714, 100 L.Ed. 1112 (1956); Hammond v. United Papermakers, 462 F.2d 174 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1028, 93 S.Ct. 464, 34 L.Ed.2d 322 (1972); Gray v. Gulf, M. & O. R. R. Co., 429 F.2d 1064 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 1001, 91 S.Ct. 461, 27 L.Ed.2d 451 (1971). It is the contention of the defendants that the 1964 Act merely extended to employees of private employers the protection against religious discrimination afforded public employers by the First Amendment and that practices which do not offend the Constitution do not violate the Act.

The plaintiff's position is that reliance on earlier cases is error. She contends that the present case must be decided on the basis of the 1964 Act, and particularly § 701(j), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j) (1970 Supp. II), added as an amendment in 1972, which provides:

(j) 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.

The district court held that the complaint failed to state a claim "as a matter of law" and entered summary judgment for both Essex and IAM upon a finding that there were no disputed facts. The district court cited Hammond, supra, in disposing of plaintiff's claim of infringement of First Amendment rights. The court concluded that Congress had reduced the union shop requirement to its "financial core" by the enactment of subsections 8(a)(3) and (b)(2). Treating the duty of all employees to pay dues to a duly certified union as nothing more than a tax in support of the union's collective bargaining efforts, the district court held that any resultant infringement of an individual employee's free exercise of religion is "limited and must be subordinate to the compelling governmental interest in favor of such a tax."

The court concluded that Title VII does not require a different result. It found that the "business purpose" of a union is served by union shop agreements and that it would work an undue hardship upon a union and its members to require it to waive its right to have all employees pay their "fair share" of union expenses. The court further held that the accommodation required by section 701(j) is subject to a balancing of interest and that "Congress effected the reasonable accommodation required by Title VII when it balanced the competing interests in enacting the union shop provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947."

No affidavits or other materials were filed by either defendant and the allegation of the complaint that both refused to make any accommodation to the plaintiff's religious beliefs must be accepted as true on the motion to dismiss. The question before this court is whether the district court was correct in holding that no accommodation was required beyond that effected by Congress in defining the requirements of union security agreements. We hold that § 701(j) requires that a reasonable accommodation be made or a showing that to do so would work an undue hardship. No such showing appears in this record.

This court's treatment of Title VII cases involving Sabbatarian claims provides no clear pattern as to the exact degree of accommodation required. However, none of our opinions may be read as excusing an employer from making any effort to accommodate the religious beliefs of an employee. See Draper v. United States Pipe & Foundry Co., 527 F.2d 515 (6th Cir. 1976); Reid v. Memphis Publishing Co., 521 F.2d 512 (6th Cir. 1975); Cummins v. Parker Seal Co., 516 F.2d 544 (6th Cir. 1975); vacated and remanded, 424 U.S. 942, 96 S.Ct. 1409, 47 L.Ed.2d 347 (1977). Cf., Dewey v. Reynolds Metals Co., 429 F.2d 324 (6th Cir. 1970), aff'd. by an evenly divided court, 402 U.S. 689, 91 S.Ct. 2186, 29 L.Ed.2d 267 (1971). In Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 53 L.Ed.2d 113 (1977), the Supreme Court dealt with a claim that an employer violated Title VII by requiring a Sabbatarian to work on Saturday. The Court found that the employer had satisfied its obligation to make a reasonable accommodation. In so holding, however, the Court construed § 701(j) to require some effort to accommodate an employee's religious needs. Referring to a case in which an employer "had not made any effort whatsoever" at accommodation it stated, "It is clear from the language of § 701(j) that Congress intended to change this result by requiring some form of accommodation . . . ." 432 U.S. at 74, n. 9, 97 S.Ct. at 2272. In the same footnote referring to this court's decision in Dewey v. Reynolds Metals Co., supra, the Court wrote, "Clearly, any suggestion in Dewey that an employer may not be required to make reasonable accommodation for the religious needs of its employees was disapproved by § 701(j) . . . " (emphasis in original) Id. It...