Ansonia Board of Education v. Philbrook

Ansonia Board of Education v. Philbrook, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on November 17, 1986, ruled (8–1) that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—which bans religious and other forms of discrimination in employment and requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” the religious observances of employees—does not oblige an employer to accept any reasonable accommodation proposed by an employee that does not cause “undue hardship” to the employer’s business.

Background

Ansonia Board of Education v. Philbrook involved a high-school teacher of business and typing in Ansonia, Connecticut, Richard Philbrook, who joined the Worldwide Church of God in 1968. He thereafter found that his religious beliefs were in conflict with the Ansonia school board’s leave policy under its collective-bargaining agreements with the Ansonia Federation of Teachers. Although the church required him to abstain from secular employment on six holy days annually, the collective-bargaining agreements provided for only three days of paid leave per year to observe religious holidays. Although teachers were also granted three days for “necessary personal business,” they were not allowed to use such days for any purpose covered by other leave provisions. Accordingly, Philbrook typically took three days of unpaid leave each year. Beginning in the 1976–77 school year, he either worked or scheduled required hospital visits on three of the holy days. The board rejected Philbrook’s request that he be permitted to use three personal-business days for religious observances or to pay the cost of a substitute teacher while still receiving a full salary for those days. After unsuccessfully complaining to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Philbrook filed suit in U.S. district court, claiming that the school board’s leave policy amounted to religious discrimination under Title VII.

The district court quickly found for the school board, holding that Philbrook had failed to demonstrate religious discrimination because he had never been forced to choose between violating his religion and losing his job. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed that decision, ruling that Philbrook had established a prima facie case of religious discrimination because he had shown that (1) he had a “bona fide religious belief that conflicts with an employment requirement,” (2) he “informed the employer of this belief,” and (3) he “was disciplined for failure to comply with the conflicting employment requirement.” The Second Circuit further held that the board was obliged to accept Philbrook’s preferred accommodation unless it could prove that it would result in undue hardship. Accordingly, the district court was instructed on remand to determine whether Philbrook’s preferred accommodation would in fact cause undue hardship for the board. The Second Circuit’s decision was then appealed to the Supreme Court, and oral arguments were heard on October 14, 1986.

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Majority opinion

In a majority opinion written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the Supreme Court first rejected the argument that employers must accept employees’ preferred accommodations unless those arrangements cause them undue hardship. The court observed that neither the wording nor the brief legislative history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1972), which amended Title VII to require employers to provide reasonable accommodation, supported such an interpretation. Rather, the court held, the employer is obliged only to offer a reasonable accommodation to the employee. Furthermore, once such an accommodation has been offered, the employer is not required to demonstrate that the employee’s alternative accommodation would cause undue hardship. As to undue hardship itself, the court endorsed its earlier finding in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison (1977) that an accommodation causes undue hardship for an employer if the cost of making it is more than “de minimis” (trifling).

Turning to the specific collective-bargaining agreements, the court indicated that requiring Philbrook to take unpaid leave for religious absences exceeding the number granted in the collective-bargaining agreements would in principle be a reasonable accommodation, because Title VII does not require employers to accommodate religious observances “at all costs.” However, the court also decided that the lower courts had failed to determine whether the collective-bargaining agreements as they were actually administered effectively permitted employees to use personal-business days for any purpose other than religious ones. “Such an arrangement,” the court declared, “would display a discrimination against religious practices that is the antithesis of reasonableness.” Accordingly, the court affirmed the Second Circuit’s remand of the case and further instructed the district court to “make the necessary findings as to past and existing practice in the administration of the collective-bargaining agreements.”

Rehnquist’s opinion was joined by Justices Harry A. Blackmun, William Brennan, Sandra Day O’Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Antonin Scalia, and Byron R. White. Justices Thurgood Marshall and John Paul Stevens filed opinions concurring in part and dissenting in part.