Judge Donovan W. Frank of the federal district court
in Minneapolis late yesterday entered a consent decree resolving a
religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Mesaba Airlines. The decree
provides for the distribution of $130,000 to five discrimination
victims as well as injunctive relief.
In its lawsuit, filed on September 30, 2008, the EEOC alleged that
Mesaba Airlines, a regional airline and wholly owned subsidiary of
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 when it terminated a Jewish customer service agent (CSA)
because she refused to work on the Jewish Sabbath (EEOC v. Mesaba Airlines,
D. Minn. No.08-cv-5308 [DWF/AJB].) The EEOC’s case focused upon an
alleged Mesaba policy prohibiting employees from making voluntary
shift swaps if they were within their initial 90 days of employment,
also known as their probationary period.
Many practitioners of the Jewish faith, like the charging party in
this case, observe the Sabbath from sundown on Friday until sundown on
Saturday. Consistent with her religious beliefs, she refused to work
past sundown on September 29, 2006, and was officially terminated by
Mesaba on October 5, 2006. Shortly thereafter, she filed a charge of
discrimination with the EEOC’s Minneapolis Area Office.
The EEOC also alleged that Mesaba’s policy against shift swapping
for probationary employees led hiring managers to reject job
applicants when they expressed a need to attend religious services,
such as Christian church services on Sunday mornings.
This “no shift swap” policy, the EEOC alleged, conflicted with
Title VII, which requires an employer to reasonably accommodate an
employee whose sincerely held religious belief or observance conflicts
with a work requirement, unless providing the accommodation would
create an undue hardship. During the litigation, the EEOC also
identified four Christian applicants who applied for CSA positions but
were allegedly rejected during interviews because they stated a desire
for weekend shifts that would not conflict with Sunday church services.
“Employees should not be forced to choose between practicing their
faith and keeping or getting a job,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart
J. Ishimaru. “As this suit shows, the EEOC vigorously enforces Title
VII’s protection against religious discrimination.”
Mesaba has since dropped the challenged policy and no longer employs
CSAs. The EEOC consent decree will require monitoring, training and
other non-monetary remedies that will benefit current Mesaba Airlines
employees.
“This case might have never arisen if Mesaba’s front-line managers
had a better understanding of their obligation to make reasonable
religious accommodations for employees who identify a conflict between
their job and their religious beliefs,” said John Rowe, director of
EEOC’s Chicago District who managed the administrative investigation
preceding the lawsuit. “One of the most important provisions in this
consent decree, therefore, is the requirement that Mesaba Airlines
revise its policies and take steps to ensure future compliance with
Title VII.”