Protos v. Volkswagen of America, Inc.

• Citation: 615 F. Supp. 1513
• Decision Date: 27 August 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 84-1251.
• Parties: Angeline S. PROTOS, Plaintiff, v. VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

615 F. Supp. 1513

Angeline S. PROTOS, Plaintiff, v. VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 84-1251.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

August 27, 1985.

James W. Carroll, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff.

James P. Hollihan, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendant.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ZIEGLER, District Judge.

I. Findings of Fact

(1) Plaintiff, Angeline S. Protos, filed a civil action for money damages and injunctive relief against defendant, Volkswagen of America, Inc., based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.

(2) Plaintiff contends that she was disciplined, suspended and ultimately terminated by defendant due to her religious beliefs in violation of the 1972 amendment to Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j).

(3) Jurisdiction is based on 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1343(a).

(4) Plaintiff has satisfied all administrative prerequisites to the filing of this action, including the filing of written charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; an investigation by the agency; a finding of probable cause to believe that defendant violated Title VII by failing to accommodate plaintiff's religious beliefs; notice of the right to sue; and a timely complaint.

(5) Angeline Protos was hired by Volkswagen as an assembler at the New Stanton assembly plant on May 9, 1979.

(6) At all relevant times, plaintiff was a member of the Worldwide Church of God. One of the tenets of the church provides that a member shall not work on the Sabbath which extends from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.

(7) The evidence preponderates that plaintiff's religious beliefs were sincerely held and consistent with the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God. Plaintiff documented her religious beliefs by providing letters to defendant from her minister on two occasions.

(8) The evidence preponderates that plaintiff was a competent, efficient, loyal and highly motivated employee of defendant until she was discharged on March 17, 1980.

(9) Plaintiff worked on the assembly line in trim 15, and performed the task of attaching four color coded wires of varying lengths to three connectors and a ground screw in the tail light assemblies of Rabbit automobiles. The evidence preponderates that the job could be learned in 15 minutes and performed in 30 seconds. We find that plaintiff has established by a preponderance of the evidence that the assignment was the least difficult and strenuous in trim 15.

(10) From the date of her employment, until August of 1979, plaintiff's regular work shift was from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and no conflict arose with her religious beliefs or observances. Plaintiff performed her work in a competent manner from Monday to Friday of each work week.

(11) In September, 1979, Volkswagen began to schedule mandatory overtime on Saturday which would require plaintiff to work in violation of her Sabbatarian beliefs. Plaintiff informed defendant that she would be unable to work on Saturdays due to the Sabbath.

(12) On September 29 and October 6 and 13, 1979, plaintiff was excused by her supervisor from work on Saturday due to her religious beliefs.

(13) On November 9, 1979, defendant advised plaintiff that she no longer would be excused from work on Saturdays. Plaintiff informed defendant that she would be unable to work on Saturday due to her religious beliefs and the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God.

(14) On December 10, 1979, defendant initiated disciplinary proceedings against plaintiff, pursuant to step 1 of the collective bargaining agreement, for failing to work on Saturday, December 8, 1979.

(15) On February 4, 1980, plaintiff was disciplined for failing to work on Saturday, February 2, 1980, and a one-week disciplinary layoff was imposed.

(16) On February 25, 1980, plaintiff was disciplined for failing to work on Saturday, February 23, 1980, and a two-week disciplinary layoff was imposed.

(17) On March 17, 1980, plaintiff was discharged for failing to work on Saturday, March 15, 1980.

(18) Plaintiff gave reasonable notice to Volkswagen prior to each absence, and plaintiff was willing to work on Sunday or make any adjustment in her work schedule to avoid the directive that she work on Saturday.

(19) The evidence preponderates that the absence of plaintiff from work on Saturday, and specifically on December 8, 1979, February 2 and 23, and March 1, 1980, caused no undue hardship to Volkswagen. The credible evidence establishes that defendant had available, at the same rate of pay, qualified employees who were able and did perform the assignment of plaintiff during her absence, without undue hardship or de minimus cost to defendant.

(20) The evidence preponderates that defendant had available, and utilized absentee relief operators and tag relief employees to replace plaintiff without affecting the efficiency, quality or production of trim 15 and the assembly line.

(21) Our finding that plaintiff sustained her burden of proving that Volkswagen discriminated due to her religious beliefs is based on the impressive array of credible witnesses presented by plaintiff. For example, Kenneth Holler testified that production continued without interruption on the days that plaintiff was absent with the use of one of the two absentee relief operators who were assigned to trim 15. In addition, each segment of the assembly line utilized the "A.R.O.s" from other segments of the line to cover the jobs of the various employees who were absent. In sum, the A.R.O.s were employed by defendant as substitutes for absent employees and the evidence preponderates that defendant was able to cover the absence of plaintiff on each of the relevant days without an undue hardship, indeed without any hardship whatsoever.

(22) Frank Pearsol was a particularly credible witness. He testified without any apparent bias to either party and impressed the court as an intelligent, articulate and loyal employee. Pearsol related that plaintiff performed the simplest job on the assembly line and the one to which the new employees were assigned. Hence, defendant was able to replace plaintiff on each Saturday without any hardship. Normal production continued and quality control was maintained, even when the assembly line operated at an accelerated pace.

(23) Volkswagen presented witnesses to meet its burden of production of evidence. See Bellissimo v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 764 F.2d 175 (3d Cir.1985). However, we find that plaintiff has satisfied her burden of proof by the fair weight of the credible evidence. Defendant's evidence that the efficiency, production, quality and morale of trim 15 and the assembly line were undermined due to plaintiff's absence on selected Saturdays was not persuasive. First, we find that plaintiff's witnesses were more credible than the witnesses presented by defendant. Second, the exhibits of record undermine the testimony of defendant's witnesses. For example, contrary to the testimony of Daniel Antis, the area coordinator of trim 15, the documentary evidence fails to relate the problems of trim 15 to the absence of plaintiff. See Plaintiff's Ex. 12. Third, while defendant presented evidence of problems of unexcused absenteeism, we find that plaintiff's evidence preponderates that the end product was not affected by the absence of plaintiff because defendant was able, and did replace plaintiff with competent substitutes, without difficulty throughout the manufacturing process.

(24) Defendant's evidence that one employee complained because plaintiff was absent on one Saturday due to her religious beliefs fails to preponderate. There is no credible evidence that the complaint affected the routine operation of the assembly line or caused a hardship, de minimus or otherwise, to defendant.

(25) Plaintiff's evidence preponderates that defendant was able to utilize other absentee relief operators and tag relief operators on the assembly line to replace the A.R.O.s in trim 15, on the days on which an absentee relief operator was assigned to plaintiff's job, without undue hardship, and without any cost to defendant.

(26) The evidence preponderates that defendant was able to conduct an efficient and routine assembly line operation on the days on which plaintiff was absent due to her religious beliefs, despite the unexplained absences of other employees.

(27) The evidence preponderates that defendant was able and did train substitute employees to perform the job of plaintiff without additional time, expense or undue hardship.

(28) The evidence preponderates that defendant was able and did procure qualified substitute employees to perform the job of plaintiff without violation or deviation from the collective bargaining agreement between defendant and the United Auto Workers of America.

(29) The evidence preponderates that the excused absence of plaintiff from overtime work on Saturday would not violate any provision of the collective bargaining agreement between defendant and Local 2055 of the United Auto Workers. See Paragraphs 139-141 of Defendant's Ex. A at 50-51.

(30) The evidence preponderates that Angeline Protos was the only employee from a work force of 5,000 who was disciplined, suspended and terminated for refusing to work overtime on Saturdays due to her religious beliefs.

(31) The evidence preponderates that plaintiff was subject to disparate treatment, i.e., discrimination, because she was discharged from a job for which she was qualified while others not in the protected class were retained.

(32) The evidence preponderates that defendant refused to excuse plaintiff from overtime assignments on the relevant Saturdays despite the fact that employees not in the protected class were granted excused absences from overtime assignments by management pursuant to paragraphs 140-141 of the collective bargaining agreement.

(33) The evidence preponderates that the...