Worker quit without good
cause, when he left employment because employer insisted that he wear an ID
badge, which on the reverse side had the statement This company
is not only a business, it is a ministry. It is set on standards that are
higher than man’s own. Our goal is to run this company in a way most pleasing
to the Lord. Treating employees and customers as we would want to be treated
along with running a business as if we are all part of one big family is our
plan
Claimant
was aware at the time he was hired that he was required to wear the ID badge
containing the mission statement as part of his uniform, and voiced no
objection to it during his 21-month employment period, until his last day of
work. The Board stated that Employer did not change the terms and conditions of
Claimant’s employment, nor did he require Claimant to do anything in violation
of his religious
beliefs.
In Thomas
v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division, et al., 450
U.S. 707 (1981), the United States Supreme Court held that the State of
Indiana’s denial of unemployment compensation violated a claimant’s first
amendment right to free exercise of religion, where the claimant, a Jehovah’s
Witness, quit his job after he was transferred to a department that fabricated
turrets for military tanks. In Thomas, the Supreme Court noted that the
claimant’s termination flowed from the fact that the employment, once
acceptable, became religiously objectionable because of changed conditions. 450
U.S. at 718. The Supreme Court stated “[w]here the state conditions receipt of
an important benefit upon conduct proscribed by a religious faith, or where it
denies such a benefit because of conduct mandated by religious belief, thereby
putting substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior or to
violate his beliefs, a burden upon religion exists.” 450 U.S. at 717-718.
Here,
there is no evidence of changed conditions; Claimant was required to wear a
badge containing the mission statement from the beginning of his employment, approximately
one year and nine months prior, but did not feel compelled to cover it or voice
any objections until January 24, 2012.
In
Monroe v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 535 A.2d 1222, 1224 (Pa.
Cmwlth. 1988), the Court held that an actual conflict between a claimant’s
sincerely held religious beliefs and his employment conditions may constitute
cause of a necessitous and compelling nature for voluntary terminating
employment. In Monroe, the Court remanded to the Board, for findings as
to whether the claimant’s beliefs were sincerely held and religious in nature,
and if so, whether or not there was an actual conflict between those be iefs
and the employer’s job requirements. 535 A.2d at 1225-26.
Sub judice, we find that Claimant did
not meet his burden because he offered no evidence as to any sincerely held
religious beliefs, nor did he attempt to describe any actual conflict between a
religious belief and Employer’s requirement that the identification badge
bearing the mission statement be worn. Owner testified at the initial hearing
that his staff includes non-believers and members of other faiths besides his
own; he stated that the mission statement was not a religious statement but
rather a statement that sets forth certain values or basic rules for treating
people.
Claimant
argues before this Court that he was repeatedly harassed for his religious
beliefs, but the hearing transcripts are devoid of such evidence, and the Board
did not find that any such harassment occurred. Claimant admitted that he never
spoke to anyone in management about his objections to the mission statement,
and presented no evidence that he had ever requested an accommodation.
