Young v. Southwestern Sav. and Loan Ass'n

• Decision Date: 05 March 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74--1306,74--1306
• Citation: 509 F.2d 140
• Parties: 10 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 522, 9 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9995 Martha D. YOUNG, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SOUTHWESTERN SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 140

509 F.2d 140

10 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 522, 9 Empl. Prac.

Dec. P 9995

Martha D. YOUNG, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SOUTHWESTERN SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 74--1306.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

March 5, 1975.

Rehearing Denied May 5, 1975.

Joseph F. Archer, W. Arthur Combs, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.

Charles L. Price, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before THORNBERRY, GOLDBERG and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

Congress, through Title VII, ¹ has provided the courts with a means to preserve religious diversity from forced religious conformity. In this Title VII case brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e--5, plaintiff-appellant Young claims that her former employer, defendant-appellee Southwestern Savings & Loan Association (Southwestern), discharged her in circumstances amounting to religious discrimination. After a trial without a jury, the district court found that although plaintiff's complaint of ill use was not entirely unfounded, she had not been fired but had resigned her position, and so could point to no illegal action by Southwestern. After a careful consideration of the record and of the statutory, regulatory, and case law in this area of tender sensibilities, we find that Mrs. Young was in fact the victim of religious discrimination. We reverse.

At the time Mrs. Young accepted employment as a teller at Southwestern's Bellaire, Texas, branch in February, 1971, she knew that all of Southwestern's employees were required to attend a monthly staff meeting at the downtown Houston office. ² Employees are paid for attending these 45-minute meetings, which are concerned with various business matters, such as organization policy, current economic conditions and future plans. Upon arriving at her first such meeting in February, 1971, however, Mrs. Young discovered that the convocation began with a short religious talk and a prayer, both delivered by a local Baptist minister.

This theological appetizer, nondenominational though it might be, was somewhat uncongenial to plaintiff, who is an atheist. ³ She made no complaint at the time, however, and attended the March, 1971, staff meeting, which was also inaugurated by a short devotional led by a Protestant cleric. At that point, Mrs. Young decided that although she did not object to the business portion of the meetings, she felt that her freedom of conscience was being violated by forced attendance at 'prayer meetings,' and, once again registering no protest with anyone, plaintiff resolved to attend no more meetings.

Mrs. Young was, by all accounts, an excellent employee and enjoyed a good relationship with peers and superiors alike. For several months, her absence at the staff meetings went undetected. Then, at the September 15, 1971 meeting, someone noticed that neither plaintiff nor the other Bellaire teller was at the meeting, and this fact was reported to Michael O. Bostain, the Bellaire branch manager. When Bostain returned later that morning to Bellaire, he asked plaintiff and her co-worker to explain their absence. The other lady confessed that she had forgotten about the meeting and the matter ended as to her. Mrs. Young was forced to reveal her objections to the religious content of the meetings, however, and she informed Bostain that she could not attend the affairs. Bostain, somewhat surprised at this revelation, reminded Mrs. Young that the primary purpose of the meetings was the discussion of business matters. He added that plaintiff had an obligation to attend the entire meeting, and advised her that if she objected to the devotionals, she could simply 'close (her) ears' during that time. Mrs. Young restated her complaint and her resolution not to attend the meetings, whereupon Bostain concluded the conversation by saying that the meetings were mandatory, and that he would leave the decision to her.

At closing time on September 15, Mrs. Young advised Bostain that she was checking out her cash drawer, turning in her keys and leaving Southwestern. Bostain asked the reason for this action, and plaintiff answered that she could not attend the 'prayer meetings.' Bostain then asked Mrs. Young for a letter of resignation, but she refused, saying, 'No, I am being fired.' Bostain assured her that she was not being fired, but plaintiff left without further discussion. ⁴

Later that same day, plaintiff wrote to Southwestern, explaining her position as outlined above and requesting two weeks' termination pay, which request was granted. Mrs. Young then contacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the possibility of filing charges against Southwestern, but nothing came of this effort. Plaintiff initiated this lawsuit on July 13, 1972 demanding reinstatement, back pay and attorney's fees and asking the district court to enjoin Southwestern from 'presenting religious activities at their monthly meetings and in all other aspects of their relationship with their employees.'

The district court found that the facts related above compelled the conclusion that Mrs. Young had voluntarily resigned her position, so that she had failed to demonstrate any act of discrimination against her arising out of the monthly staff meetings. For this reason, the court entered judgment for Southwestern. Although we cannot say that the district court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous, or that the court erred in any particular in its statement of the law pertaining to religious discrimination in general, we believe that the district court incorrectly applied the law to the peculiar facts of this difficult case. We find that Mrs. Young was constructively discharged in circumstances which amounted to religious discrimination against her by Southwestern.

I

Title VII forbids an employer: 'to . . . discharge any individual . . . because of such individual's . . . religion . . .' 42 U.S.C. § 2000e--2(a)(1). ⁵ In order to prevail in this lawsuit, Mrs. Young had to prove that she was discharged on account of her religious beliefs. Once she performed that task, she would have established a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination which Southwestern could then rebut by evidence that it could not reasonably accommodate her beliefs without undue hardship on the conduct of its business. Riley v. Bendix Corp., 5 Cir. 1972, 464 F.2d 1113; Reid v. Memphis Publishing Co., 6 Cir. 1972, 468 F.2d 346; Weitkenaut v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., D.Vt.1974, 381 F.Supp. 1284; Shaffield v. Northrop Worldwide Aircraft Services, Inc., M.D.Ala.1974, 373 F.Supp. 937; Claybaugh v. Pacific Northwest Bell Tel. Co., D.Ore.1973, 355 F.Supp. 1. ⁶

Although there is no question that this dispute is solely the product of Mrs. Young's objections to the religious content of Southwestern's staff meetings, the trial court found that 'no atmosphere of religious intimidation existed at Southwestern which could cause Mrs. Young's resignation to be interpreted as constructive discharge,' and that plaintiff had voluntarily resigned. It is true that there is no evidence of proselytization by Southwestern here and that the course of events leading to Mrs. Young's departure was rather too swift and spontaneous to admit any inference of an 'atmosphere of religious intimidation.' However that may be, we believe that the district court required too high a standard for a constructive discharge. The general rule is that if the employer deliberately makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into an involuntary resignation, then the employer has encompassed a constructive discharge and is as liable for any illegal conduct involved therein as if it had formally discharged the aggrieved employee. See N.L.R.B. v. Brennan's Inc., 5 Cir. 1966, 366 F.2d 560; J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc. v. N.L.R.B., 4 Cir. 1972, 461 F.2d 490; N.L.R.B. v. Cavalier Olds., Inc., 6 Cir., 1970, 421 F.2d 1234; Retail Store Employees Local 880, R.C.I.A. v. N.L.R.B., 1969, 136 U.S.App.D.C. 27, 419 F.2d 1329; N.L.R.B. v. J. W. Mays, Inc., 2 Cir. 1966, 356 F.2d 693; see also EEOC Decision No. 72--1114, Feb. 18, 1972, CCH Employment Practices Guide 6347.

In this case, Mrs. Young enjoyed her work and Southwestern valued her services. The only possible reason for her resignation on September 15, 1971, was her resolution not to attend religious services which were repugnant to her conscience, coupled with the certain knowledge from Bostain, her supervisor, that attendance at the staff meetings--in their entirety--was mandatory and the reasonable inference that if she would not perform this condition of her employment, she would be discharged. In these circumstances, when she could hope no longer that her absence at the meetings would not be noticed, she could reasonably infer that in one week, one month or two months, she would be discharged because of the conflict between her religious beliefs and company policy. Surely it would be too nice a distinction to say that Mrs. Young should have borne the considerable emotional discomfort of waiting to be fired instead of immediately terminating her association with Southwestern. This is precisely the situation in which the doctrine of constructive discharge applies, a case in which an employee involuntarily resigns in order to escape intolerable and illegal employment requirements. ⁷

II

Since we have concluded that Mrs. Young made out a prima facie case of religious discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we must now determine whether Southwestern presented evidence sufficient to rebut plaintiff's showing of unlawful employment practices. At the time of plaintiff's termination, Southwestern had an obligation to accommodate her religious beliefs and observances unless it could show that 'an undue hardship' to its business rendered the accommodation of Mrs. Young's objections...