By Kate Acheson
The Seventh Circuit recently found, in Porter v. City of Chicago, that an offer to work a later shift so an employee could still attend her morning church service was a reasonable accommodation. Although the employee wished to have all of Sunday off and was not willing to work the later shift, the Seventh Circuit found, that did not make the employer’s offer unreasonable.
Latice Porter worked for the Chicago Police Department Records Services Division in the Field Services Section (“FSS”) since 1991. The FSS responds to police and government agency records requests. Before 2005, Porter worked a day shift (7:30 am-3:30 pm) with every other Saturday and Sunday off.
In March of 2005, Porter’s schedule was changed so she would have Fridays and Saturdays off. She requested to have Sundays and Mondays off instead, so she could attend church on Sundays. That request was granted. In August 2005, Porter requested accommodation so she could attend a ten-week class as a student minister. She was granted special hours on Saturdays to accommodate the class schedule.
Due to a car accident and related pregnancy complications in October 2005, Porter took nine months of leave. Upon her return to work, in July of 2006, she was assigned to have Fridays and Saturdays off. Porter again requested to have Sundays off to continue her church involvement. However, at that time, the employer had too many people with Sundays off and no one was willing to voluntarily switch their days off. The employer offered Porter the next available spot for Sundays off and the option to work special Sunday hours in the meantime, so she could still attend services.
Porter declined to pursue the special hours option and, over the next few months, was regularly absent from work, especially on Sundays. On November 16, 2006, Porter took a second medical leave of absence and has not returned to the FSS.
On December 12, 2008, Porter filed suit claiming that the City violated Title VII by failing to accommodate her religious practices. Although her supervisor sought volunteers to switch days off with Porter and offered her the next available opening in a Sundays-off job, the Seventh Circuit found that the offer to work later hours alone was a reasonable accommodation.
The change in Porter’s schedule would have eliminated the conflict between her work schedule and her religious practice, and there is no evidence that this change would have impacted Porter’s pay or benefits in any way. Porter simply did not want to work the later watch, but that does not make the proposed accommodation unreasonable.
