Just how much leeway does a manager get to discuss his religious beliefs in the workplace? Judging by a recent court ruling, a lot.
The case involves Eric Weathers, who was employed as a sales manager for FedEx in Chicago.
Weathers described himself as a conservative evangelical Christian. He was a member of an internal organization of Christian FedEx employees, and he spoke at company sales conferences about his faith.
But his beliefs apparently caused some conflict in the workplace. One of his direct reports filed a complaint alleging that Weathers discriminated against her.
She alleged that Weathers quoted scripture to her on numerous occasions, and that he had recited a portion of the Bible that says a “slave should be obedient to his master” — meaning that the employee should be obedient to Weathers.
FedEx officials investigated, talking to a range of employees about Weather’s behavior. Some employees raised questions about Weathers’ leadership style, but the general consensus was that he treated co-workers fairly.
FedEx concluded that Weathers hadn’t violated any company policies. But it issued him a letter of “counseling” — a form of discipline that’s less serious than a letter of “warning” — and told him discussions of religion with other employees “must cease.”
The reason: FedEx felt that allowing Weathers to continue to talk about his religious beliefs would create a hostile work environment for his co-workers.
A short time later, Weathers sent an email to his supervisor and an HR rep, asking for clarification on the ban of religious discussion. As an evangelical Christian, Weathers said, he was obligated to answer any religious questions he was asked.
Weathers didn’t receive a response to this email, which he characterized as a request for religious accommodation.
A few months later, Weathers was demoted for performance reasons and later quit. He then sued FedEx for religious discrimination, failure to accommodate his religious beliefs, hostile work environment and emotional distress.
Failure-to-accommodate claim survives
The court tossed all of Weathers’ claims except religious accommodation.
There, the judge ruled, he had a case: Weathers could convince a jury he believed he had an obligation to answer questions about religion, FedEx was certainly aware of his belief, and his email seeking clarification of his prohibition from talking about religion could qualify as a request for accommodation.
So the case is now headed for trial, where both sides will argue their views on an interesting question: How far does an employee’s right to express his religious views go? If those views make his co-workers and the overall workplace uncomfortable, can the employer step in?
We’ll keep you posted. To view the judge’s recent decision, go here.
