Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied January 16, 1979.
HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judge:
Anderson, a former employee of General Dynamics Convair Aerospace Division ("General Dynamics") brought this Title VII action against General Dynamics and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Silvergate District Lodge 50 ("Union"), claiming that he had been discharged in violation of the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j)). He sought reinstatement of employment and benefits, an injunction restraining the Union from discriminating against him, back pay and allowances, reasonable attorney's fees, costs and interest. The district court held that no accommodation to Anderson's religious beliefs was possible because his offer to contribute the amount of Union dues to a charity of his choice, rather than to the Union or charities of the Union's choice, imposed an undue hardship on the Union. (Anderson v. General Dynamics Convair Aerospace Division (S.D.Cal.1977) 430 F.Supp. 418.)
The critical issue on appeal is whether the Union carried its burden of proving that it could not reasonably accommodate Anderson's religious convictions without undue hardship on the Union. We conclude that it did not carry its burden of proof.
Anderson was first employed by General Dynamics on October 11, 1956. In 1959, he became a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. A tenet of the Church is that its members should not belong to or contribute to labor organizations. Anderson has at all material times held a sincere belief in that tenet. From 1959 until April 3, 1972, the collective bargaining agreement between General Dynamics and the Union did not require General Dynamics to employ only persons who were union members. On April 3, 1972, however, the Union and General Dynamics entered into a collective bargaining agreement, which contained the following provision:
Anderson did not join the Union within the time limitation provided by the security clause of the bargaining agreement. On May 25, 1972, the Union notified Anderson of his delinquency under the agreement. On June 12, 1972, Anderson informed General Dynamics, which, in turn, informed the Union, that his religious beliefs prohibited him from joining the Union. Two days later, the Union requested that Anderson be discharged for failure to abide by the provisions of the security clause. On June 16, 1972, General Dynamics discharged Anderson from his employment for the sole reason that he refused to become a member of or contribute to the Union.
The parties stipulated that neither the Union nor General Dynamics offered Anderson any specific alternatives or accommodations with respect to joining the Union, and both the Union and General Dynamics told Anderson that he had to follow the collective bargaining and join the Union. The parties also stipulated that Anderson had made known to his fellow workers, including his shop committeemen, that he would not join the Union and that he would not contribute to the Union, unless he could insure that his contributions went to a recognized charity.
Anderson promptly filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which deferred the matter to the California Fair Employment Practice Commission
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) provides in pertinent part as follows:
Similar conduct by a labor organization is also proscribed by the Act. (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(c).)
In 1972, Congress enacted 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j), incorporating the substance of the 1967 EEOC guidelines (29 C.F.R. § 1605.1). The section provides:
As the Supreme Court has explained, in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison (1977) 432 U.S. 63, 74, 97 S.Ct. 2264, 2271, 53 L.Ed.2d 113. "The intent and effect of this definition was to make it an unlawful employment practice under § 703(a)(1) for an employer [and also for a union] not to make reasonable accommodations, short of undue hardship, for the religious practices of his employees and prospective employees." Neither Congress nor the EEOC has attempted to spell out any precise guidelines for determining when the "reasonable accommodations" requirement has been met, nor the kinds of circumstances under which a particular accommodation may cause hardship that is "undue." These decisions must be made in the particular factual context of each case because the decision ultimately turns on the reasonableness of the conduct of the parties under the circumstances of each case. (Redmond v. GAF Corp. (7th Cir. 1978) 574 F.2d 897, 902-03; Williams v. Southern Union Gas Co. (10th Cir. 1976) 529 F.2d 483, 489. Cf. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, supra, 432 U.S. at 74-75, 97 S.Ct. 2264.)
We, as well as other courts, have recognized that there is both tension and conflict between the legitimate interests of the Union in preserving the benefits of union security agreements, which are valid under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. § 158), and the accommodation requirements of Title VII (e. g., Yott v. North American Rockwell Corporation (9th Cir. 1974) 501 F.2d 398; McDaniel v. Essex Intern'l, Inc. (6th Cir. 1978) 571 F.2d 338; Cooper v. General Dynamics, Convair Aerospace Division (5th Cir. 1976) 533 F.2d 163, 166-69). The balance has been struck, however, in favor of the elimination of discrimination in employment practices and requiring accommodation of religious practices absent proof by the Union, the employer, or both, that reasonable accommodation cannot
To establish a prima facie case of discrimination under §§ 2000e-2(a)(1) & (j), Anderson had the burden of pleading and proving that (1) he had a bona fide belief that union membership and the payment of union dues are contrary to his religious faith;
The burden was thereafter upon General Dynamics and the Union to prove that they made good faith efforts to accommodate Anderson's religious beliefs and, if those efforts were unsuccessful, to demonstrate that they were unable reasonably to accommodate his beliefs without undue hardship. Id. at 902.
Neither the Union nor General Dynamics did anything to accommodate Anderson's religious beliefs. They contend that their failure to take any steps to accommodate is excused because Anderson insisted on making an equivalent payment to a charity of his choice, rather than paying the equivalent fund to the Union for charitable purposes. They rely heavily upon the district court's finding that Anderson's refusal to pay his charitable contribution to the Union was based on his general distrust of unions, rather than on religious beliefs. Finally, they argue that Anderson's suggestion of accommodation would work undue hardship as a matter of law because Anderson would become a "free rider."
The burden was upon the appellees, not Anderson, to undertake initial steps toward accommodation. They cannot excuse their failure to accommodate by pointing to deficiencies, if any there were, in Anderson's suggested accommodation. Thus, Anderson's motivation in selecting his own charity is irrelevant. Moreover, the district court's finding is contrary to the parties' stipulation of fact that teachings of Anderson's Church forbade making contributions to unions.
Appellees are left with the argument that Anderson's refusal to pay either his union dues or the equivalent of union dues to the Union for a charity of the Union's choice would be an undue hardship as a matter of law because the means of accommodation would create "free riders." The district court accepted this argument; we do not. We follow the Sixth Circuit in McDaniel v. Essex International, Inc., supra, 571 F.2d 338, with which our case is almost identical.
Here, as in McDaniel, neither the Union nor the employer offered any evidence to prove that union members thought that a person was a free rider if he paid the equivalent of union dues to a charity, nor was there any evidence offered to prove as a fact that the accommodation of Anderson would otherwise have been an unduly difficult problem for the Union. It relied simply upon general sentiment against free riders.
Undue hardship means something greater than hardship. Undue hardship cannot be proved by assumptions nor by opinions based on hypothetical facts. Even proof that employees would grumble about a particular accommodation is not enough to establish undue hardship. As the Supreme Court pointed out in Franks v. Bowman, supra, 424 U.S. at 775, 96 S.Ct. at 1269, quoting United States v. Bethlehem Steel Corp. (2d Cir. 1971) 446 F.2d 652, 663: "`If relief under Title VII can be denied merely because the majority group of employees, who have not suffered discrimination, will be unhappy about it, there will be little hope of correcting the wrongs to which the Act is directed.'"
We conclude that the Union and General Dynamics failed to carry their burden of proof, and, accordingly, the judgment must be reversed.
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