Court Opinion

ID: 9636564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:33:29.221004+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:46.920103
License: Public Domain

Morse, J.,
concurring and dissenting. I respectfully dissent from the reversal of the judgment dismissing the claim under the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act for religious discrimination and the claim of retaliation. Otherwise, I concur.
The links in the circular chain of inferences the Court employs to arrive at religious discrimination are derived only from the statement of Alderman Cassarino and Chief Lloyd’s answer to an interrogatory question, both quoted in the Court’s opinion. According to Cassarino, Chief Lloyd insinuated, but did not say, that “the guys” “made fun” of plaintiff for “watching PTL and 700 Club all the time,” and that plaintiff “wasn’t really commanding.” Lloyd stated plaintiff lacked “leadership” and spent most of his considerable free time at the station “watching TV” rather than constructively preparing for “future officer vacancies.”
The Court assumes that watching such television during working hours is a protected religious practice. May a court take judicial notice that “PTL or 700 Club” are “religious” observances within the meaning of the Act? The Court next assumes that plaintiff’s coworkers made fun of plaintiff’s “religion,” rather than his choice of television entertainment. The Court further assumes, based on *97Lloyd’s insinuation, that plaintiff was not “commanding” only because he watched a particular form of programming. Making yet another assumption, the Court states that Chief Lloyd’s statement describes the same conversation that Cassarino vaguely remembers.
Chief Lloyd’s statement does not remotely supply evidence of discrimination found wanting in Cassarino’s deposition. The Court, nevertheless, makes a quantum leap from one statement to the other. Lloyd’s observation that plaintiff’s watching television during most of his free time at the station instead of working toward his promotion becomes Lloyd’s assessment of plaintiff’s religious observance; practicing religion fosters disrespect by coworkers; the disrespect becomes a motivating, if not sole, consideration in making the decision not to promote plaintiff. Under the Court’s factual analysis, surmise leads to speculation forming a conjectural waft of religious prejudice. Summary judgment should be available to screen out such frivolous attacks.
I would also affirm the grant of summary judgment on the claim of retaliation. Plaintiff has not shown a causal connection between his complaint and the allegedly retaliatory actions. The record only indicates that plaintiff was assigned “detail” work on an average of once per month. The record does not indicate, beyond plaintiff’s assertion, that plaintiff was singled out to perform this type of work. Plaintiff made no showing that only new recruits were required to perform menial tasks or that menial tasks were assigned as a form of discipline.
Nor has plaintiff shown that defendant’s nondiscriminatory reasons for disciplining plaintiff were pretextual. Plaintiff complains that three reprimand letters were retaliatory because the subject of the reprimands were actions that are not normally the subject of discipline. I fail to see how insubordination, failure to respond to an emergency call in a timely fashion, nonresponse to emergency calls on two separate occasions, failure to wear proper equipment, and abuse of sick leave would not be subject to such mild sanctions. Where plaintiff had some legitimate explanation for his behavior, Lloyd accepted the explanation and took no disciplinary action. Moreover, plaintiff has introduced no evidence that other firefighters were treated differently for these same actions. By not requiring this showing, the Court assumes that these letters resulted from increased scrutiny and fails to take into account that even twenty-six year employees may misbehave after being passed over for promotion.
*98In my opinion, the Court’s decision today, as I have discussed, encourages the practice of making spurious claims against employers and wastes the limited resources of all concerned.