Wondzell v. Alaska Wood Products, Inc.
| Decision Date | 15 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 2792,2804,s. 2792 |
| Citation | 583 P.2d 860 |
| Parties | 99 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2819, 20 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 509, 18 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 8785 Robert A. WONDZELL, Appellant, v. ALASKA WOOD PRODUCTS, INC., and Lumber Production and Industrial Workers Local 2362, Appellees. ALASKA WOOD PRODUCTS, INC., and Lumber Production and Industrial Workers Local 2362, Cross-Appellants, v. Robert A. WONDZELL and the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | Alaska Supreme Court |
Robert H. Wagstaff and R. Collin Middleton, Wagstaff & Middleton, Anchorage, for appellant/cross-appellee Wondzell.
Carolyn E. Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., Anchorage and Avrum M. Gross, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for appellant/cross-appellee Alaska State Commission for Human Rights.
M. T. Thomas, Robertson, Monagle, Eastaugh & Bradley, Juneau, for appellee/cross-appellant Alaska Wood Products.
Bernard Jolles, Franklin, Bennett, Ofelt & Jolles, Portland, Or., and Stephen J. Pearson, Ely, Guess & Rudd, Juneau, for appellee/cross-appellant Lumber Production and Industrial Workers Local 2362.
Before BOOCHEVER, C. J., and RABINOWITZ, CONNOR, BURKE and MATTHEWS, JJ.
This case brings before us the conflict between a "union shop" agreement and the religious beliefs of a worker whose Seventh-Day Adventist faith forbids affiliation with a labor union. The worker, Robert A. Wondzell, asserts that the union shop agreement violates his rights under state human rights laws and the state and federal constitutions.
The trial court held that Wondzell should pay union dues, but that he need not belong to the union. This satisfied neither side, and cross-appeals have been taken.
Before reaching the merits, we must dispose of jurisdiction and preemption issues. When these appeals were taken a question existed as to whether the National Labor Relations Act precluded state jurisdiction over this case. Our recent opinion in Bald v. RCA Alascom, 569 P.2d 1328 (Alaska 1977), is dispositive. We there held that the courts of Alaska do have jurisdiction over this type of case. There is no reason to discuss the question further in this opinion.
Robert A. Wondzell was employed as a boiler fireman at the Alaska Wood Products mill in Wrangell. His employment was covered by a union security agreement between Alaska Wood Products (hereinafter AWP or, more commonly, "the employer") and Lumber Production and Industrial Workers Local 2362, an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (hereinafter "the union"). All persons employed at AWP, except some in job classifications not here at issue, must join the union and pay dues, or be discharged.
Wondzell has been a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church for a number of years. In 1974, he became convinced, in accordance with the tenets of that religion, that he could not conscientiously belong to or financially support a labor union. Hence he resigned from the union and ceased payment of dues. To avoid any personal financial gain, he made a payment equivalent to his union dues ($6.75 per month) to a non-religious charity. Pursuant to the union security agreement, the union directed AWP to dismiss Wondzell from employment.
All parties have stipulated to the nature of Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs on compulsory unionism, and to Wondzell's good-faith adherence to those beliefs. Wondzell and others of his faith believe that it is contrary to God's will for them to associate with labor organizations. They cite passages in the Bible which instruct workers to obey their employers, and hence believe that unions stir up labor-management strife which would not exist if workers followed these biblical precepts rather than organizing. They believe that economic coercion, such as strikes and boycotts, is not a proper means to further even the most legitimate and desirable ends. Furthermore, they are concerned that a labor union demands of them loyalty to earthly goals which is contrary to their first loyalty to God.
Paying money to the union without joining it is not an acceptable compromise for Wondzell. Giving financial support to a union, as well as having one's name on its membership rolls, is unacceptable to Adventists.
When the union directed AWP to discharge Wondzell, he filed an action for declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. Both the union and the employer were named as defendants. Wondzell sought and was granted a temporary restraining order preventing his dismissal. After a hearing, the superior court denied a preliminary injunction. A petition for review was denied by this court. AWP then dismissed Wondzell from employment.
At the same time, the two defendants moved to dismiss the case, arguing that exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction was in the National Labor Relations Board, and that the National Labor Relations Act preempted the state human rights laws. These motions were denied. The union's petition for review on this issue was also denied by this court. Before trial on the merits, the Alaska State Commission on Human Rights was granted permission to intervene as a plaintiff.
At trial, the evidence showed that Wondzell had proposed to make monthly payments to the Multiple Sclerosis Society in lieu of union dues, and to forego all union benefits. The employer was willing to accept this compromise. The union, however, refused to accept it. The union's regional headquarters in Portland, Oregon, instructed the local to strike unless AWP discharged Wondzell. The union was willing to permit Wondzell to resign his membership, so long as he continued to pay the union a sum equivalent to the dues. 1 Because of the strike threat, the employer felt that he had no alternative but to discharge Wondzell. An official of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church made efforts to mediate the dispute. He found that the employer was receptive, but the union was not.
The superior court rendered an opinion holding that (1) the superior court had jurisdiction; (2) Wondzell's constitutional rights had not been violated; (3) AS 18.80.220 imposed upon the union and the employer the duty to make a reasonable accommodation to Wondzell's beliefs; and (4) the accommodation offered by the union dues payment but not membership was a reasonable accommodation; anything more favorable to Wondzell would impose undue hardship upon the union and, therefore, was not required by law.
Wondzell appeals from the second and fourth of these holdings. The employer and the union appeal from the first and third of these holdings.
AS 18.80.220(a)(1) and (2) forbid discrimination on the basis of religion by either employers or labor unions. 2 We have not previously addressed the question of religious discrimination under AS 18.80.220(a). All parties discuss the case law under the corresponding federal statute, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. We have previously noted the similarity between AS 18.80.200 et seq. and Title VII of the 1964 federal act. Loomis Electronic Protection, Inc. v. Schaefer, 549 P.2d 1341, 1342 (Alaska 1976). 3 Therefore, we must review the decisional law under the federal statute.
The key words in considering religious discrimination under the federal statute are "reasonably accommodate . . . without undue hardship." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j). The federal law, in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, makes it unlawful for an employer or a labor union to discriminate against a person because of that person's religion. Section 2000e(j) 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." (emphasis added)
Federal case law reads this section as though it said "employer or labor organization" instead of "employer." Cooper v. General Dynamics, Convair Aerospace Div., 533 F.2d 163, 171-73, 175 (5th Cir. 1976) (per concurring opinions), Cert. denied sub nom. Internat'l Assoc. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, et al. v. Hopkins, 433 U.S. 908, 97 S.Ct. 2972, 53 L.Ed.2d 1091 (1977); Hardison v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 527 F.2d 33, 42 (8th Cir. 1975), Rev'd (without mention of this issue) 432 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 53 L.Ed.2d 113 (1977); Yott v. North American Rockwell Corporation, 501 F.2d 398, 402-03 (9th Cir. 1974).
Section 2000e(j) was enacted in 1972. The original 1964 Civil Rights Act imposed merely a duty not to discriminate; it said nothing about a duty reasonably to accommodate. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1967 imposed the duty to accommodate in its guidelines interpreting the 1964 act. 29 C.F.R. § 1605.1. The federal circuits divided on whether this guideline exceeded the Commission's authority under the 1964 Act. Compare, e. g., Riley v. Bendix Corporation, 464 F.2d 1113 (5th Cir. 1972), and Yott v. North American Rockwell Corporation, supra (upholding the guideline), With Reid v. Memphis Publishing Company, 521 F.2d 512 (6th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied 429 U.S. 964, 97 S.Ct. 394, 50 L.Ed.2d 333 (1976), and Dewey v. Reynolds Metals Company, 429 F.2d 324 (6th Cir. 1970), aff'd (by an equally divided court), 402 U.S. 689, 91 S.Ct. 2186, 29 L.Ed.2d 267 (1971) (). The Supreme Court later resolved this question by holding that in light of the explicit Congressional adoption of the guideline in 1972, it was "a defensible construction of the pre-1972 statute" and would be applied to cases arising before the 1972 amendment. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63, 76, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 2272, 53 L.Ed.2d 113, 126, n. 11 (1977). However, it held that the employer was not required to violate a collective bargaining agreement, otherwise valid, in order to accommodate the...
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Rankins v. Commission On Professional Competence
...its state statute forbidding religious discrimination as implying a similar duty of reasonable accommodation. (Wondzell v. Alaska Wood Products, Inc. (1978) 583 P.2d 860, 864; cf. Olin v. Fair Employment Practices Comm'n (1977) 67 Ill.2d 466, 474-475, 10 Ill.Dec. 501, 504-505, 367 N.E.2d 12......
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American Motors Corp. v. Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, 77-703
...belonged to the Worldwide Church of God for being absent from school during the holy days here in question. In Wondzell v. Alaska Wood Products, Inc., 583 P.2d 860 (Alaska 1978), the Alaska Supreme Court reached a similar construction of a fair employment statute modeled after the Federal C......
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American Motors Corp. v. Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations
...on the question of the duty to accommodate. These cases from other states are not persuasive. For example, in Wondzell v. Alaska Wood Products, Inc., 583 P.2d 860 (Alaska 1978), rev'd on other grounds 601 P.2d 584 (Alaska 1979), the Alaska court noted that its act, adopted in 1965, was "mod......
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Kumar v. Gate Gourmet, Inc.
...v. Commission on Professional Competence, 24 Cal.3d 167, 171–74, 593 P.2d 852, 154 Cal.Rptr. 907 (1979), and Wondzell v. Alaska Wood Products, Inc., 583 P.2d 860, 863 (Alaska 1978) as examples of cases finding an implicit reasonable accommodation requirement, and American Motors Corp. v. De......