On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Files Workplace Discrimination Lawsuit Against TruGreen ChemLawn on Behalf of Employee Fired for Speaking About Faith
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed suit against TruGreen ChemLawn and its parent company ServiceMaster Inc., on behalf of an employee who was fired after speaking about his Christian beliefs with co-workers. Institute attorneys charge that by failing to accommodate Kerry Dunlavey's religious beliefs and terminating him because of those beliefs, TruGreen violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Indiana Civil Rights Code."Religious employees should not be required to check their faith at their employer's door," said John W. Whitehead, president and founder of The Rutherford Institute. "It is time that the courts and our legislature send Corporate America a strong message about the importance of respecting and protecting the rights of religious employees like Kerry Dunlavey."
In late October and early November, 2004, Kerry Dunlavey, a devout and practicing Christian, interviewed with and was offered a job with the Indianapolis branch of the TruGreen Companies. TruGreen ChemLawn, a subsidiary of the ServiceMaster Company, describes itself as the world's largest lawn and landscape company serving more than 3.4 million residential and commercial customers across the U.S. Article III of the Articles of Incorporation for the ServiceMaster Company lists the first of its four corporate objectives as "To honor God in all we do." However, that corporate objective did not seem to be reflected in Dunlavey's experience with the company. Dunlavey commenced his employment as a Management Trainee at one of TruGreen ChemLawn's Indianapolis offices in mid-November and was quickly promoted to Branch Manager. In mid-December 2004, Mark Bradley, the Regional Vice President for TruGreen ChemLawn, asked Dunlavey to give an introductory speech to the employees of the Evansville. Ind., office. In his speech, Dunlavey stated that he was blessed for the opportunity presented by his new job, told the employees that he was a born-again Christian, and expressed his belief that God would bless the business. That afternoon, the Vice President contacted Dunlavey and informed him that he was not to speak about his religion or faith. The following day, Bradley informed Dunlavey that he was prohibited from speaking about God. During the weeks that followed, Dunlavey was approached by several employees who expressed a desire to speak about religious matters and, on specific occasions, asked Dunlavey to pray with and for them. However, after hearing that Dunlavey had participated in discussions about religion with several employees, the Vice President suspended and subsequently fired him for what the company termed "insubordination." In their complaint, Institute attorneys charge that by refusing to reasonably accommodate Dunlavey's religious practices and beliefs, which Institute attorneys assert would not have caused undue hardship to the company, TruGreen discriminated against Kerry Dunlavey on the basis of his religion under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII defines the term "religion" as including "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." Institute attorneys point out that other employees were not prohibited from speaking about matters of personal importance or engaging in expression on matters of personal interest.
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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