First Amendment Does Not Require Accommodation Of Job Applicant's Beliefs

In Filinovich v. Claar, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48341 (ND Ill., July 14, 2006), an Illinois federal district court applied the June 2006 holding by the 10th Circuit in Shrum v. Coweta (see prior posting) to dismiss a Free Exercise claim by Alice Filinovich who was applying for the position of Finance Director with the Village of Bolinbrook, IL. Plaintiff, a Seventh Day Adventist, claimed that, even though she was the top candidate, she was not hired by the village because her religious beliefs would not permit her to attend required quarterly budget workshops held on Saturdays. The court held that so long as the village had a legitimate reason for the neutral, generally applicable requirement of attendance at Saturday meetings, for purposes of the First Amendment-- as opposed to Title VII-- there was no requirement that the village attempt to accommodate Filinovich's religious practices. The court said that the 7th Circuit, whose decisions control it, had reached the same conclusion as Shrum in its 1991 decision in Ryan v. U.S. Department of Justice, 950 F.2d 458 [LEXIS link].