posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 3:30 PM
by
Lou Michels
Pushing the Edge of the Religious Envelope
In contrast to the increasing sensitivity of courts to sexual harassment, a recent New York case, Ennis v. Sonitrol Mgmt. Corp., No. 02-CV-9070 (SDNY, Jan.25, 2006) seems to raise the bar for employees confronted by "in your face religious behavior." In this case, the employee claimed that his manager hired only people with a close religious bond to him, engaged in office prayer, gave business advantages to his Christian recruits, and sang religious songs and left religious writings and a bible on the plaintiff's desk. The plaintiff, who was Jewish, did admit that the manager never tried to proselytize him (although I can only imagine one or two more things that the manager could have done to try to convert the plaintiff ), and did not disparage the Jewish religion, although he did make comments about the plaintiff's absences during Jewish holidays.
Apparently unimpressed by the plaintiff's claims that he was yelled at, bullied and berated, the court held that plaintiff failed to tie the conduct to some religious animus.
This case is noteworthy because the EEOC has noted an increase in the number of religious discrimination claims being filed by people who are in workplaces where there is a substantial amount of outright religious activity. This court seems to be saying that the conduct has to be pretty obvious and very direct in its religious hostility before there will be a supportable claim of religious discrimination.