Court Opinion

ID: 9576578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:26:05.765514+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:04.602698
License: Public Domain

RALPH B. GUY, JR., Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I write separately to clarify my reasons for affirming the decision granting summary judgment to the UAW with respect to Reed’s Title VII religious accommodation claim. Although Reed has not made out a prima facie ease, I agree with the district court that, even if he had, the UAW’s accommodation requiring substitute payment of the full amount of dues to a charity constituted a reasonable and nondiscriminatory accommodation of Reed’s religious beliefs.
Title VII’s definition of “religion” makes it an unlawful employment practice not to make reasonable accommodation for the religious practices of employees unless it would cause undue hardship. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 53 L.Ed.2d 113 (1977). An employee is entitled only to a reasonable accommodation, and, if reasonable, the defendant need not show that the employee’s preferred accommodation would result in undue hardship. Ansonia Bd. of Educ. v. Philbrook, 479 U.S. 60, 67-68, 107 S.Ct. 367, 93 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986). The duty to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs extends to unions as well as employers. Wilson v. NLRB, 920 F.2d 1282, 1286 (6th Cir.1990). Although several circuits have held that a union reasonably accommodates religious objectors by permitting the substitution of charitable contributions for union dues, no circuit has squarely addressed the reasonableness of requiring that the substituted charitable contributions be equal to the full amount of the dues. See Wilson, 920 F.2d at 1286; Nottelson v. Smith Steel Workers D.A.L. U. 19806, 643 F.2d 445, 451 (7th Cir.1981); Tooley v. Martin-Marietta Corp., 648 F.2d 1239, 1242 (9th Cir.1981).
In addressing the question of reasonableness, the Court in Ansonia focused on whether the accommodation eliminated the conflict between the employment requirement and the employee’s religious beliefs. 479 U.S. at 70, 107 S.Ct. 367. There, the specific accommodation — allowing the plaintiff to take unpaid leave to avoid working on Saturdays — eliminated the conflict between the employment requirement and religious practices and required him only to give up compensation for a day that he did not in fact work. Id. at 70-71, 107 S.Ct. 367. In this case, Reed concedes that allowing him to make substituted charitable contributions, even in the full amount of the dues, eliminated the conflict between the union security clause and his religious beliefs. Reed actually argues that the accommodation was not reasonable because it was discriminatory, relying on the caveat in Ansonia that “unpaid leave is not a reasonable accommodation when paid leave is provided for all pur*583poses except religious ones.” Id. at 71,107 S.Ct. 367.
Reed insists that the relevant comparison is not with nonobjectors who pay the full amount of the dues, but with nonmember objectors (Beck objectors) who pay only that portion of dues expended on “core” representational activities (ie., 78.29% of the full dues). See Communications Workers v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735, 108 S.Ct. 2641, 101 L.Ed.2d 634 (1988). In arguing that the difference is religious discrimination, Reed characterizes the comparison as being between “secular” and “religious” objectors. This is both misleading and inaccurate — as plaintiffs own situation demonstrates' — since an employee may elect nonmember Beck status because the union’s political activities conflict with his religious beliefs. The difference is based not on the employee’s reasons for objecting, but rather on the nature of the respective objection, and different objections call for different accommodations. See, e.g., EEOC v. Univ. of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 335 (6th Cir.1990). Nor is Reed persuasive in arguing that only religious objectors are compelled to pay an amount equal to the full dues because any nonobjecting member can choose to leave the union and assert Beck objector status. That is to say nothing more than that an employee cannot be compelled if he is a Beck objector. Since the accommodation provided plaintiff in this case was reasonable, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to the UAW with respect to Reed’s religious accommodation claim.