A fire chief says he battled Christian discrimination. Supreme Court declines to take his case
The Supreme Court declined to take the case, skirting a potential showdown over religion in the workplace during a year when the Court is testing the limits of religion in schools and tax exemptions.
WASHINGTON – Ronald Hittle was laid off as fire chief of Stockton, Calif., after facing allegations of misconduct, including an anonymous letter describing him as a “corrupt, racist, lying, religious fanatic.” One of the issues that led to his termination: he had attended, with other managers, a church-sponsored summit for Christian leaders during work hours.
Hittle tried to sue, arguing he was fired because of his Christian religion, but lower courts said he didn’t have a strong enough case to go to trial.
Hittle, though, contends the test the Supreme Court established more than 50 years ago for evaluating workplace discrimination allegations needs to be reexamined.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take his case, skirting a potential showdown over religion in in the workplace during a year that the Court is testing the limits of religion in schools, and religion-related tax exemptions.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said they would have heard the appeal.
Thomas wrote that Hittle had plenty evidence of discriminatory intent, and his case would have allowed the court to offer clear guidance on how to determine when workplace discrimination cases can move forward.
Leadership training at a Christian summit
Hittle was fired in 2011 after city investigator concluded Hittle lacked effectiveness and judgment, failed to report time off, engaged in favoritism and had attended with other managers a religious event while on the job, among other findings.
The event was a church-sponsored summit for Christian leaders, which Hittle said he went to because the city directed him to get leadership training.
Hittle argues his attendance at the Global Leadership Summit was the main reason he was fired and alleged the deputy city manager had accused him of being part of a “Christian Coalition.”
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Hittle hadn’t persuaded them that the city’s stated reasons for firing him were a cover story. The court also said there wasn’t enough evidence that his supervisors made discriminatory remarks.
Hittle said the appeals court incorrectly required him to prove the city’s stated justifications were bogus.
“When an employer acts for a discriminatory reason, it cannot automatically avoid liability just because lawful reasons also motivated it,” his attorneys told the court.
The city says Hittle is mischaracterizing the appeals court’s decision and there’s no reason to reconsider the court’s landmark 1973 decision, McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, a “settled touchstone of employment-discrimination law.”
“The City’s reasons for terminating (Hittle) were well-documented and entirely appropriate for the Ninth Circuit to rely upon,” the city’s lawyers told the court.