Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 383814_pub.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 383814_pub.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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It would be anomalous to conclude that by “reasonable
accommodations” Congress meant that an employer must deny the
shift and job preference of some employees, as well as deprive them of
their contractual rights, in order to accommodate or prefer the religious
needs of others, and we conclude that Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964] does not require an employer to go that far.

Id. at 81. After concluding that an employer cannot be forced to violate a collective

bargaining agreement to make religious accommodations, the Court rejected alternative

accommodations that would have decreased efficiencies in other jobs or increased wages.

Id. at 79, 84. Such accommodations would require Trans World Airlines, Inc. to bear

more than a de minimus cost and constitute undue hardship. Id.; see also Harrell v.

Donahue, 638 F.3d 975, 981 (8th Cir. 2011).

Similarly, under WAC 82-56-020(9), undue hardship is demonstrated when a

proposed accommodation would deprive another employee of their job preference or

other benefits guaranteed by a collective bargaining agreement.

Here, as in Hardison, changing scheduled days off requires changing positions,

which is covered by the bidding system set forth in the collective bargaining agreement.

Therefore, Suarez’s proposed accommodation of simply changing her scheduled days off

would require the School to violate the bidding system in the collective bargaining

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No. 38381-4-III
Suarez v. State

agreement. We agree that requiring the School to accommodate Suarez’s religious

beliefs by violating the collective bargaining agreement would cause an undue hardship.

Next, we consider whether the School could have accommodated Suarez by