Opinion ID: 201361
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Chapter 151B

Text: 45 Massachusetts law prohibits an employer from enforcing a condition of employment that would require an employee to violate or forego the practice of her creed or religion. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B § 4(1A). Where such a conflict arises, the law imposes upon employers the duty to offer a reasonable accommodation, defined as one that shall not cause undue hardship in the conduct of the employer's business. Id. 46 As the district court explained, the statute sets forth a three-part inquiry. N.Y. & Mass. Motor Serv., Inc. v. Mass. Comm'n Against Discrimination, 401 Mass. 566, 575-76, 517 N.E.2d 1270, 1276 (1988); Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B § 4(1A). First, the employee bears the burden of proving that the employer required her to violate a religious practice required by her sincerely held belief. N.Y. & Mass. Motor Serv., Inc., 401 Mass. at 576, 517 N.E.2d at 1276. Second, an employee who needs time off for a religious observance must provide her employer with at least ten days' notice. Mass. Gen. L. ch. 151B § 4(1A). 9 Finally, the burden shifts to the employer to show that it offered a reasonable accommodation, or that it could not have offered an accommodation without causing undue hardship to its business. N.Y. & Mass. Motor Serv., Inc., 401 Mass. at 576, 517 N.E.2d at 1276. 47 As in the Title VII inquiry, we find the undue hardship factor determinative. Under the statute, undue hardship 48 shall include the inability of an employer to provide services which are required by and in compliance with all federal and state laws, ... or where the health or safety of the public would be unduly compromised by the absence of such employee or employees, or where the employee's presence is indispensable to the orderly transaction of business and his or her work cannot be performed by another employee of substantially similar qualifications during the period of absence, or where the employee's presence is needed to alleviate an emergency situation. 49 Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B § 4(1A). 50 Chapter 151B's definition of undue hardship does not explicitly address an accommodation request like Cloutier's, namely one that would alter an employee's appearance rather than her schedule. Yet the statute's protection of religious practices  including but not limited to the observance of any particular ... sabbath or holy day indicates that its scope includes a bona fide claim of this type. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B § 4(1A) (emphasis added). From this, we understand Chapter 151B's definition of undue hardship to be a non-exclusive list. 51 Such a reading is consistent with the phrasing of the undue hardship definition: the statute states that undue hardship shall include the factors specified. Id. This suggests an illustrative list, rather than an exhaustive one. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court precedent supports this interpretation of Chapter 151B as well. In New York & Massachusetts Motor Service, the court discussed the appropriate standard for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to use in analyzing undue hardship. 401 Mass. at 575-79, 517 N.E.2d at 1275-78. In addition to the conditions specified in Chapter 151B, the court explained that an adjudicator also must focus on whether the employer could have exercised its managerial discretion in such a way that the employee's religious obligations could have been reasonably accommodated. 401 Mass. at 576, 517 N.E.2d at 1276. 52 This instruction provides some guidance, but Massachusetts courts do not appear to have specifically considered whether exempting an employee from a dress code constitutes undue hardship. Where there are gaps in the application of Chapter 151B, courts turn to case law interpreting Title VII. Wheatley, 418 Mass. at 397, 636 N.E.2d at 268 (It is our practice to apply Federal case law construing the Federal anti-discrimination statutes in interpreting G.L. c. 151B.). 53 We thus consider the question of undue hardship in light of both the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's instruction in New York & Massachusetts Motor Service and the foregoing discussion of undue hardship under Title VII. Cloutier's insistence on a wholesale exemption from the no-facial-jewelry policy precludes Costco from using its managerial discretion to search for a reasonable accommodation. Exempting Cloutier from the dress code would have imposed more than a de minimis burden on Costco for the reasons outlined above. Her refusal to consider anything less means that Costco could not offer a reasonable accommodation without incurring an undue hardship. For this reason, Cloutier's discrimination claim under Chapter 151B must fail. 54 Affirmed.