In Buonanno v. AT&T Broadband, a federal district court in Colorado recently ruled in favor of an employee who refused to sign his employer’s diversity policy, where the employer failed to participate in an interactive process with the employee to determine whether he could be accommodated in his religious beliefs.
Albert Buonanno worked for AT&T Broadband (AT&T). Buonanno, a Christian, believed that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. As such, he believed that his religious beliefs prohibited him from endorsing values that are contrary to the scriptures.
In January 2001, AT&T promoted a new diversity policy. Each employee was required to sign that he would abide by the company’s policy in regard to diversity in the workplace. The policy indicated that the company had a “‘zero tolerance policy’ toward any type of discrimination, harassment or retaliation.”
Buonanno took issue with the sentence of the policy that read as follows: “Each person at AT&T Broadband is charged with the responsibility to fully recognize, respect and value the differences among all of us.” Buonanno believed that some behavior and beliefs were sinful, and he could not “value” them. As written, Buonanno would not sign the diversity policy acknowledgement and certification. However, he was fully prepared to certify that he recognized that people had different beliefs and behaviors and he would not discriminate, harass, or retaliate against them based on their beliefs or behaviors.
Buonanno asked human resources for clarification of the policy’s language and returned an unsigned copy of the certificate with his request. He was told that signing the certificate was required for his continued employment, but there was no discussion of the meaning of the language or what it required. Buonanno refused to sign and was terminated.
Buonanno subsequently brought an action against AT&T for religious discrimination in violation of Title VII. AT&T maintained that permitting an employee to certify less than full agreement with the diversity policy would show other employees that its policies were not uniformly applied and enforced.
The court found that the language and what it required was subject to various interpretations, given that five company officials who testified about the policy had different views. Additionally, no one explored or explained the intended meaning of the language to Buonanno. As the court noted, “No AT&T employee inquired as to the particulars of Buonanno’s concerns, sought to devise ways to accommodate Buonanno’s religious beliefs, or reassured him that the challenged language did not require him to surrender his religious beliefs.” Thus, AT&T failed to offer any accommodation. In fact, the court opined that no accommodation would have been required had an official explained to Buonanno that the company interpreted the challenged language as having a figurative, rather than literal, meaning and listened to his concerns.
Finding that AT&T violated Title VII by failing to engage in the interactive process with Buonanno, the court awarded him back pay, front pay, and damages for emotional distress totaling nearly $150,000.
Employer Notes: The interactive process is not limited to cases involving disabilities. Both the employer and employee have reciprocal duties to discuss the matter and attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation. Once it becomes clear that the employee’s religious beliefs conflict with an employment policy, the employer must initiate a discussion of accommodations. If the employer makes no effort to accommodate the employee before taking adverse action, the employer should be prepared to show that such an accommodation could not have been taken without undue hardship.
Council's On-Site Division will bring our Employment Law for Managers and Supervisors seminar to your workplace. This comprehensive program covers all of the vital employment law issues your managers need to know in order to avoid legal landmines, including sessions on managing a diverse workforce and accommodating religious beliefs. For more information on this and other Council On-Site programs, click on the link above or contact Cina Carrigan, Director of On-Site Training, at 704-561-0236 or ccarrigan@counciloned.com.