Dan Giurca v. Bon Secours Charity Health System, et al.
SocialSecurity Securities EmploymentDiscrimina JusticiabilityDoctri
Does an employer violate Title VII when it fails to hire a person because his sincerely held religious beliefs prohibit him from agreeing to recognize and adhere to the employer's religious views and, if so, did Petitioner plausibly allege he was denied employment because of his religious beliefs such that he amply stated a claim for religious discrimination under Title VII?
QUESTION PRESENTED Title VII makes it an unlawful “for an employer ...to fail or refuse to hire... any individual... because of such individual’s . . . religion,” which “includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.” Here, Petitioner alleged that Respondents denied him employment because, citing his own non-Catholic faith as prohibiting him from so committing, he objected to signing an employment agreement that would have required him to agree that his employment be “subject to,” or that his services be “provided in accordance with,” the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Roman Catholic Church, and that Respondents refused to accommodate him by modifying this standard contractual language. The question presented is: Does an employer violate Title VII when it fails to hire a person because his sincerely held religious beliefs prohibit him from agreeing to recognize and adhere to the employer’s religious views and, if so, did Petitioner plausibly allege he was denied employment because of his religious beliefs such that he amply stated a claim for religious discrimination under Title VII?