Weitkenaut v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Civ. A. No. 73-108.

• Citation: 381 F. Supp. 1284
• Decision Date: 26 September 1974
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 73-108.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Vermont
• Parties: Otto K. WEITKENAUT v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY.

381 F. Supp. 1284

Otto K. WEITKENAUT v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY.

Civ. A. No. 73-108.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

September 26, 1974.

Paul, Frank & Collins, Burlington, Vt., James J. Barry, Jr., Manchester, N. H., Malloy & Sullivan, Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.

Black & Plante, White River Junction, Vt., for defendant.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS

HOLDEN, Chief Judge.

The complaint charges that the plaintiff, Otto K. Weitkenaut, has been the victim of an unlawful employment practice at the instance of the defendant, Goodyear. The plaintiff alleges discrimination for reasons of religion, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.). The charge was referred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Commission (EEOC) has determined there is reasonable cause to believe the charge that religion was a factor in the plaintiff's discharge by the defendant employer. The present proceedings were instituted within 90 days thereafter, as provided in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, together with an award of accrued wages and attorney's fees. After continuance at the plaintiff's request, with the assent of the defendant, the cause was tried by the court. The court finds the facts which follow.

FINDINGS

The plaintiff is an ordained minister of the New Apostolic Church of North America. While serving the church in a deaconate in 1967, he was assigned to Claremont, New Hampshire from Schenectady, New York. The assignment was for the purpose of organizing and establishing a church at the new location. His pastoral duties were, and presently are, performed without compensation, hence he applied for employment with Goodyear at its plant at Windsor, Vermont on August 17, 1967. He was informed by the personnel office during his employment interview that the only vacancy that existed at that time was in the second shift from 3:00 to 11:00 P.M. Since employment on the second shift would conflict with his attendance at certain monthly meetings of the church leaders outside Vermont, later referred to, he declined this job opportunity. Later in the year he was notified that a vacancy existed in the third shift, which operated from 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. He accepted the employment and began work on December 4, 1967. The plaintiff was informed that the company could not guarantee employment on any particular shift.

During the time of his employment by Goodyear at Windsor the plaintiff organized and established a branch of the New Apostolic Church in Claremont, New Hampshire. He became an ordained minister of the church on October 6, 1968. The Claremont church has fifty-two members in regular attendance. The national church has 40,000 members and is a religious sect of Christian denomination. The day designated for observance of the Sabbath is Sunday. As a minister of the church, the plaintiff considered it to be his duty to attend the meetings of the church leaders one Friday evening each and every month. The meetings were first held at Bayside, New York, and later at Clifton, New Jersey. They were convened at these locations by the apostolic leader of the New Apostolic Church. The meetings were accompanied by religious ceremonies. The primary purpose of the monthly meetings, however, has been to attend to the administrative affairs of the church organization, to coordinate the activities and objectives of the church and to enable the ministers of the church to better perform their clerical and religious educational duties. The agenda included consideration of the rules and regulations of the church and its business and financial affairs. In the plaintiff's view, and that of his religious superiors, attendance, while voluntary, was essential and mandatory to his competent fulfillment of his ecclesiastical obligations.

Until December, 1968, Goodyear's third shift was composed of ninety employees. The plaintiff's work week started Sunday evenings at 11:00 P.M. This schedule presented no serious interference with the plaintiff's function as a cleric of his church. However, at the end of 1968 the shifts were rearranged and the start-up time changed from Sunday at 11:00 P.M. to Monday. The plaintiff's assignment to the second shift prevented his attendance on one Friday each month at the church meetings at Bayside. The plaintiff discussed his problem with his foreman-supervisor. He requested permission to be excused one Friday each month to attend the monthly church meeting and to charge his absence to vacation time. The plaintiff then requested permission to supply a replacement operator on the Foster-Wucher machine, to which he had been assigned. Although operation of this machine required no special skill, and replacements were readily available and willing to substitute for him, the request was denied. The plaintiff tried to get a change in work shifts to no avail. The conflict between the plaintiff's work schedule and the monthly religious meetings on Friday caused the plaintiff to be absent from work on seven occasions in 1969.¹ In June, 1969 the Goodyear management confronted the plaintiff with the blunt choice — "your church or your job." On June 20, 1969 the plaintiff was absent from work to attend a monthly ministerial meeting. The plaintiff was discharged by the defendant when he reported for duty the following week. While in the employ of the defendant, the plaintiff has been a competent and well qualified workman.

The plaintiff's termination became the subject of a grievance procedure instituted by the president of Local 289, A. F.L.-C.I.O. United Rubber, Cork Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America. The grievance presented by the Union was not sustained. However, the arbitrator recommended that the plaintiff be given an opportunity to return to work to enable the parties to explore the possibilities of accommodating the conflict between the work schedule and church meetings. The defendant acceded to this recommendation. The plaintiff returned to work in March 1970. He was assigned to the first work shift. During 1970 the monthly meetings of the New Apostolic Church were changed from Friday to Saturday. The scheduling conflicts have been adjusted to the apparent satisfaction of both parties. Since then the plaintiff's absence from work has caused no concern to either the plaintiff or Goodyear.

At the time of the plaintiff's termination on June 23, 1969, his weekly earnings for a normal period of work were $125. During the period January 1, 1969 through June 20, 1969, the plaintiff earned and received $4,077.87. From March, 1970, when the plaintiff returned to Goodyear, through December 31, 1970, the plaintiff earned $5,398.70. Had his regular employment continued to March, 1970, when he was restored to the Goodyear payroll, his earnings would have been approximately $4,736. During the period June 23, 1969, to March, 1970, the plaintiff's earnings from temporary employment were $2,963.55. As a direct result of the defendant's termination of the plaintiff's employment on June 23, 1969, the plaintiff sustained a loss of earnings in the amount of $1,772.45.

The Goodyear Company had followed a policy of excusing its employees to attend religious ceremonies on days when the observance of the Sabbath in a particular religion came during working hours. In keeping with this policy, the Goodyear plant at Windsor adjusted the working schedule of three of its employees who observed the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday to avoid a conflict between their employment and the observance of a particular day of worship. These adjustments were made by the defendant, without any hardship on Goodyear, either by way of increased expense or detrimental effect on production. At plant locations other than Windsor, employees who served as ministers of a religious organization have been afforded excused absences to enable them to participate in religious ceremonies and perform various pastoral obligations.²

The Goodyear Company prefers that its employees take their earned vacation over weekly periods, rather than a day at a time. There is no inflexible rule or policy to enforce this preference. Employees are frequently allowed excused absences for shorter periods of time to suit their personal convenience for recreation and other reasons.

The Court finds the defendant made no effort to accommodate the needs of the plaintiff's ministry in the New Apostolic Church of North America. Such accommodation could have been achieved without undue hardship or expense to the defendant.

CONCLUSIONS

Since 1964 it has been — "an unlawful employment practice for an employer . . . to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin . . . ." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1); Pub.L. 88-352, Title VII § 703.

The controlling, and apparently new question presented by this case is whether "religion" as used in this statute includes the duties of one engaged in the ministry of a particular faith. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, as first written, afforded no specific definition of religion.

In July, 1967 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-12, issued an administrative guideline on religious discrimination concerning "Observation of the Sabbath and other religious holidays," 29 CFR, Sec. 1605.1.³ While the guideline did not cover the particular question presented here, the Commission found that "the duty not to discriminate on religious grounds . . . includes an obligation on the part of an employer to make reasonable accommodations to the religious needs of employees and prospective employees where such accommodations can be made without undue hardship on the...