Worker Can Proceed with Claim That City Preferred Mormon Job Applicants

An Asian-American engineer who worked for Stockton's municipal utility department filed a lawsuit claiming that high-level city officials of the Mormon faith sought to recruit, hire and promote Mormon workers and that he was denied a promotion because he was not white or Mormon. The plaintiff is a member of the Khmu ethnic minority from Laos and practices Laotian Folk Religion.

The trial court dismissed the lawsuit before trial, but a California appellate court reversed, ruling that the plaintiff could go forward with both his race and religious discrimination claims.

In January 2015, the plaintiff applied for a promotion to senior civil engineer. He was highly qualified for the position based on his experience, which included seven years of delivering water and wastewater projects and two years of operating the municipal utility department's wastewater treatment plant. He also held a wastewater treatment operator certificate, completed master's degree coursework in water resources and water quality management, and worked as principal civil engineer during the principal engineer's absence for about a month each year.

The plaintiff was ranked first on the list of internal and external candidates for the position. The employees on the internal interview panel for the position had all supervised the plaintiff and deemed his work as meeting or exceeding expectations.

In June 2015, the plaintiff received notice that his request for promotion was denied. The promotion was offered to a white Mormon applicant who ranked sixth, even though non-Mormon applicants ranked in the top five. When the white Mormon applicant declined the offer, the plaintiff was not notified and an offer was made to a white, non-Mormon candidate who also declined the offer. Again, the plaintiff was not notified that the position remained unfilled.

The position sat vacant as the city continued to seek applicants with the plaintiff's qualifications. While the position was vacant, the plaintiff served as senior engineer for one year.

In September 2015, when the plaintiff contacted the human resources department regarding his belief that he was denied the promotion because he was not Mormon and not white, he was advised by the municipal utilities department director, a Mormon, and two others, both white and one a Mormon, that he was not qualified and not ready to hold the senior civil engineer position. On Oct. 28, 2015, a less-qualified person than the plaintiff was selected for the job.

The plaintiff subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging race and religious discrimination, but the trial court dismissed the claims before trial and the plaintiff appealed.

The appellate court ruled there was sufficient evidence of discriminatory motive for the race and religious bias claims to proceed to trial.

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination claims typically arise when employees are prevented from practicing their own faith—for example, by being forced to work on a religious holiday. But such claims can also arise when company leaders impose a particular belief on the workforce. The appellate court noted that, under federal law, courts have ruled that where the plaintiff claims that he was discriminated against because he did not share certain religious beliefs held by his supervisors, the plaintiff must show:

• That he was subjected to an adverse employment action.
• That, at the time the employment action was taken, the employee's job performance was satisfactory.
• Some additional evidence to support the inference that the employment actions were taken because of a discriminatory motive based on the employee's failure to hold or follow the employer's religious beliefs.

The court concluded that the plaintiff's claim for religious discrimination could proceed based on his allegations that high-level Mormons in city government recruit, hire and promote other Mormons over more-qualified non-Mormons, including in the municipal utility department.

Even though the municipal utility department does employ a number of high-level employees who are not Mormon, the senior civil engineer position was at first offered to a Mormon applicant, the court said. And even though the second person offered the position was not Mormon and the position was ultimately filled by a person who is not alleged to be Mormon, the plaintiff introduced enough evidence to raise an inference that he was denied a promotion because he did not share in the Mormon faith, the court concluded.

Boonsalat v. City of Stockton, Calif. Ct. App., No. C090582, Oct. 5, 2021.

Professional Pointer: Federal and California laws not only ban discrimination against employees and job applicants based on their religious beliefs, practices and observances, they also prohibit employers from imposing their own religious beliefs on workers.

Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer in Annapolis, Md.