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An employee practicing Orthodox Judaism could bring a religious accommodation claim after being forced to work on the Sabbath, a U.S. District Court judge has decided.
The plaintiff was employed by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) at the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW).
“[The plaintiff] is an Orthodox Jew who observes ‘Shabbos’ (‘Sabbath’) from Friday evening through sundown on Saturday evening, during which time he is not permitted to work,” Judge Linda V. Parker noted.
“[The plaintiff] has met the applicable burden at the motion-to-dismiss stage for his Title VII religious accommodation claim to survive. In the Amended Complaint, [the plaintiff] alleges that his sincere religious beliefs preclude him from working on the Sabbath. … [the plaintiff] further alleges that he made his beliefs known to TSA at the start of his employment …, but was required to work on Saturday, June 18, 2022, in potential violation of his known beliefs. … More than a month in advance, [the plaintiff] asked to not have to work on June 18, but his request was denied, while non-Jewish TSOs received the same day off with less notice,” the judge wrote.
“The [DHS] Secretary maintains that [the plaintiff’s] claim still fails because he was offered ‘reasonable’ accommodations, including shift swaps and the ability to use paid and unpaid leave to avoid working on the Sabath. Again, the Secretary’s argument looks at the burden-shifting framework for establishing a failure-to-accommodate claim which does not apply when deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. In any event, while [the plaintiff] alleges that [Constance] Balfour granted him ‘reasonable accommodations’ to account for his religious beliefs …, the allegations belie that those accommodations were in fact afforded. The allegations reflect that [Clinton] Shrum imposed barriers to [the plaintiff’s] use of those accommodations,” she added.
“For these reasons, the Court denies the [DHS] Secretary’s motion to dismiss [the plaintiff’s] religious discrimination claim on a failure-to-accommodate theory pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6),” Parker concluded.
The 23-page decision is Shmueli v. Noem; MiLW No. 02-110475.
