Opinion ID: 6986303
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Burden Shifts: The Hospital Must Establish A Reasonable Accommodation, or Undue Hardship

Text: Because Shelton established her prima facie case, the burden shifts to the Hospital to show either that it offered Shelton a reasonable accommodation, or that it could not do so because of a resulting undue hardship. See United States v. Board of Educ., 911 F.2d at 886-87. The Hospital claims it satisfied the former. Title VII does not define what is a “reasonable accommodation.” But the Supreme Court in Philbrook made clear what it need not be: a sufficient religious accommodation need not be the “most” reasonable one (in the employee’s view), it need not be the one the employee suggests or prefers, and it need not be the one that least burdens the employee. Philbrook, 479 U.S. at 68-69, 107 S.Ct. 367. In short, the employer satisfies its Title VII religious accommodation obligation when it offers any reasonable accommodation. See id. On this point, Philbrook provides some guidance. Philbrook was a high school teacher whose union agreement allowed him to take three “religious days” a year. “Religious days” were not charged against paid personal leave, but paid leave could not be used for extra religious days. See id. at 63-64, 107 S.Ct. 367. Philbrook’s religious practices caused him to miss approximately six school days a year. See id. at 62-63, 107 S.Ct. 367. To resolve the issue, Philbrook proposed that he be allowed either to take additional unpaid personal leave, or to pay for a substitute teacher (and receive his own full pay for the day). See id. at 64-65, 107 S.Ct. 367. The school district declined. The district court held Philbrook failed to prove any religious discrimination. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed, holding when an employer and employee both propose reasonable accommodations, the employee’s must be accepted unless shown to work an undue hardship. See id. at 65-66, 107 S.Ct. 367. The Supreme Court reversed, rejecting the view that an employer must adopt any particular proposed accommodation: “[W]here the employer has already reasonably accommodated the employee’s religious needs, the statutory inquiry is at an end. The employer need not further show that each of the employee’s alternative accommodations would result in undue hardship.” Id. at 68, 107 S.Ct. 367. As to whether the school district’s policy in fact constituted a reasonable accommodation, the Court remanded. See id. at 70-71, 107 5.Ct. 367. The Court explained that although the school district’s policy seemed to be reasonable' — because it eliminated the religious conflict — it would not be so if interpreted to allow paid leave for all purposes except religious ones. See id. at 71, 107 S.Ct. 367. Further fact-finding was ordered. See id. at 70, 107 S.Ct. 367. Against this background we analyze the Hospital’s proffered accommodations.
Shelton argues there is a fact issue whether the Hospital reasonably accommodated her by offering a transfer to the Newborn ICU. The core of her argument 6 is that the transfer would not have resolved the religious conflict; in the Newborn ICU she would again be asked to undertake religiously untenable nursing actions (or inactions). 7 The Hospital countered Shelton’s claim with testimony that infants in Newborn ICU are not denied medical treatment. Carolyn Franklin, the Hospital’s Director of Patient Care Services, testified that she had no knowledge that any baby in Newborn ICU had been taken off of life support, or denied nourishment. Furthermore, there is no evidence that if Shelton worked in the unit, she would be asked to deny care to any infant. Indeed, Shelton admitted that her conclusion about what she might be asked to do in the Newborn ICU was self-drawn. In sum, Shelton has not established she would face a religious conflict in the Newborn ICU. The Hospital’s offer of a lateral transfer to that unit thus constituted a reasonable accommodation. See, e.g., Cook v. Lindsay Olive Growers, 911 F.2d 233 (9th Cir.1990) (offer of lateral job transfer constituted reasonable accommodation under state religious discrimination law akin to Title VII; summary judgment affirmed). Cf. Heller, 8 F.3d 1433 (employer failed to offer reasonable accommodation where after it rescinded previously-granted permission for employee to take day off to attend his wife’s conversion ceremony, it thereafter made no farther accommodation effort before firing him). b. The Hospital’s Invitation to Shelton to Meet with the Human Resources Department to Identify Other Available Positions In another attempt to accommodate Shelton’s religious conflict, the Hospital invited Shelton to meet with its Human Resources Department to discuss other available nursing positions. Once the Hospital initiated discussions with that proposal, Shelton had a duty to cooperate in determining whether the proposal was a reasonable one. See, e.g., Philbrook, 479 U.S. at 68-69, 107 S.Ct. 367 (employer-employee cooperation is consistent with Congress’s goal of flexibility in the search for a reasonable accommodation; “... courts have noted that ‘bilateral cooperation is appropriate in the search for an acceptable reconciliation of the needs of the employee’s religion and the exigencies of the employer’s business’ ” (quoting Brener v. Diagnostic Ctr. Hosp., 671 F.2d 141, 145-46 (5th Cir.1982))). By refusing to meet with Human Resources to investigate available positions, Shelton failed to satisfy her duty. See, e.g., Beadle v. Hills-borough Co. Sheriffs Dep’t, 29 F.3d at 593 (employee did not make good faith attempt to accommodate his religious needs through employer’s proffered means; employee declined employer’s offer to announce need for shift swap during roll call or on departmental bulletin board); Brener, 671 F.2d at 145-46 (no Title VII violation where employee did not fully explore employer’s proposed religious accommodation). Shelton does not dispute that at the relevant time, staff nursing positions may have been available in other departments. 8 But she claims her duty to cooperate in finding an accommodation never arose because a transfer to any other department was not a viable option. Not surprisingly, she does not base this claim on any religious conflict. Instead, she claims a transfer to any other department would have required her to “give up eight years of specialized training and education,” and to undertake retraining. The District Court found unconvincing Shelton’s claim that a transfer to another staff nurse position would require her to “give up” all of her years of training and education. We agree. Shelton has not come forward with any evidence that a lateral transfer would have affected her salary or benefits. Indeed, Shelton testified that she did not pursue a meeting with Human Resources to identify other lateral transfers because she believed positions were not available. 9 She never expressed a concern that she would be forced to accept a lower salary or benefits. Instead, conceding that a lateral transfer “may have resulted in no immediate economic impact,” Shelton offered only the generic speculation that lateral transfers may result in “long-term economic consequences as to the employee’s career prospects.” Such speculation is insufficient to raise a fact issue precluding summary judgment. Although there is evidence that Shelton likely would have to undergo some retraining if she took a position outside of the Labor and Delivery section, there is no evidence that she would lose pay or benefits by accepting a new staff nurse position. On this point, the Hospital’s Nursing Manager, Edyth Stroud, testified that although a staff nurse who transferred to another nursing unit would need some training, the relocation would not be burdensome. We agree with the District Court that there was no evidence in this case that a lateral transfer would be unreasonable or burdensome. In sum, Shelton’s refusal to cooperate in attempting to find an acceptable religious accommodation was unjustified. Her unwillingness to pursue an acceptable alternative nursing position undermines the cooperative approach to religious accommodation issues that Congress intended to foster. In a recent case decided by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a police officer refused, on religious grounds, to protect employees of an abortion clinic. See Rodriguez v. City of Chicago, 156 F.3d 771 (7th Cir.1998). The officer — Rodriguez — asked to be exempted from further assignments to guard an abortion clinic from protestors. Although the police department declined formally to exempt him, it did allow informal accommodations: Rodriguez’s captain avoided assigning him to clinic duty, and Rodriguez took vacation time on the days when clinic patrol was most likely to be assigned. See id. at 773-74. Eventually, Rodriguez was assigned to clinic patrol. When he again requested exemption, the on-duty sergeant told him he could not refuse an assignment. Rodriguez took the assignment under protest, then sued under Title VII. The district court granted the police department’s motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed, holding the police department had reasonably accommodated Rodriguez by providing him the opportunity, through a collective bargaining agreement, to transfer to another district, at the same pay and benefit levels. See id. at 775. The accommodation was not unreasonable simply because it would have required Rodriguez to forfeit the right to stay in his district of choice. It would seem unremarkable that public protectors such as police and firefighters must be neutral in providing their services. We would include public health care providers among such public protectors. Although we do not interpret Title VII to require a presumption of undue burden, we believe public trust and confidence requires that a public hospital’s health care practitioners — with professional ethical obligations to care for the sick and injured— will provide treatment in time of emergency- Shelton refused the Hospital’s efforts to accommodate her religious beliefs and practices. Having done so, she cannot successfully challenge those efforts as legally inadequate.