Who won this case? Supervisor refuses to sign company policy
May 30, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: EEOC, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Recent Decisions
A supervisor says he won’t sign the company diversity policy. Why? It’s against his religion.
The facts:
An employee sued after being fired for refusing to sign the company diversity policy. The employee insisted he couldn’t sign anything that required him to “respect the differences of all employees.” His reason: His new religion found homosexuality to be deviant. He supervised a worker who was openly gay, but never discriminated against him. In fact, last year, he promoted him.
The employer said:
If the supervisor can’t follow company policy, he should be fired.
Who won? The supervisor.
Why: A judge said the supervisor had been unfairly fired because of his religious beliefs. Since he had never discriminated against gays, he shouldn’t have been terminated.
Bottom line: No discrimination, no violation.
Dealing with employees’ religion can be touchy, but for a general guide you can ask: Does the belief lead to:
- conduct that treads on the rights of others in the workplace, or
- actions that are harmful to business?
Without one of those factors, it’s hard to prove that someone’s conduct in connection with religious beliefs deserves to be disciplined.
Cite: Buonanno v. AT&T Broadband
Tags: Discrimination, policies, religion
June 4th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I’m confused, according to the story, the supervisor was terminated because he would not sign a diversity policy not for not following company policy. Is signing the diversity policy a requirement that you saw and read it or is signing the diversity policy a requirement that you saw it, read it and understand it or is signing the diversity policy a requirement that you received it? Another question, if any employee does not sign the policy, will that employee be terminated?
June 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I am not sure I understand. What if the supervisor does discriminate against a gay employee down the line. Then the employer fires the supervisor for discrimating against and employee after a complaint and thorough investigation. Will the supervisor have a legal ground if he says, I cant be fired, I never agreed not to discriminate against gay people. He never signed the policy.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Not knowing how the discrimination policy was worded, it’s hard to judge. Since the manager who refused to sign sounds like a good manager otherwise, I would assume the policy was stated in a way that was truly offensive to his beliefs.