In the second major religious bias suit brought by the EEOC this year, a federal court in Clarksburg, W.Va., awarded a total of $586,860 in damages to an employee of CONSOL Energy who was forced to retire because the mining company refused to accommodate his beliefs.
“I am very pleased with the final outcome in this case, which is the latest in a series of cases involving Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination,” said David Lopez, general counsel for the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an Aug. 27 statement. “This victory underscores two important American values: religious freedom and inclusiveness.”
The Supreme Court ruled against Abercrombie & Fitch in June, determining that an employer cannot refuse to hire a job applicant to avoid accommodation for a religious practice. The retailer agreed to settle the case involving a Muslim woman who wore a hijab or headscarf for just over $44,000, after a federal appeals court dismissed its appeal of an EEOC decision in her favor.
In the latest lawsuit, Beverly R. Butcher Jr. had worked as a general inside laborer at CONSOL’s mine in Mannington, W.Va., for over 35 years when the company required employees to use a newly installed biometric hand scanner to track time and attendance.
Butcher repeatedly informed officials that submitting to biometric hand scanning violated his “sincerely held religious beliefs as an Evangelical Christian,” the EEOC said. He also wrote a letter to CONSOL officials explaining his beliefs about the relationship between hand-scanning technology and the “Mark of the Beast” and the Antichrist discussed in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, and requesting an exemption from the hand scanning based on his beliefs.
In response, CONSOL refused to consider alternate means of tracking Butcher’s time and attendance and informed him he would be disciplined up to and including discharge if he refused to scan his hand, according to the lawsuit.
Refusing to grant reasonable accommodation for employee religious beliefs that conflict with work requirements violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, unless accommodation would result in undue hardship on the employer’s business.
“Many times when there is a conflict between an employees’s religious beliefs and a work rule, there are easy modifications to company permitting an employee to continue to work without violating his religious beliefs,” added EEOC District Director Spencer H. Lewis Jr.
EEOC filed suit (US EEOC v. CONSOL Energy, Inc. and Consolidation Coal Company, Civil Action No. 1:13-cv-00215) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
