Judge Questions EEOC Religious Discrimination Consent Decree

On June 13 the video rental chain Blockbuster agreed with the EEOC to a consent decree in a case charging that a Blockbuster manager in Scottsdale, AZ, had refused to permit an Orthodox Jewish employee wear his yarmulke at work. The store must pay a $50,000 penalty and modify its employee handbook and operating procedures. So far, this seems unremarkable. But, according to yesterday's East Valley Tribune, the federal judge who signed the consent decree was hesitant to do so, suggesting that under the 1985 US Supreme Court case of Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as applied here might be unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause. But the EEOC attorney involved said that the 1985 case involved a statute that did not have exceptions for accommodations that unduly burden the employer.