In Carmack v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., (D Mass, March 22, 2007) a Massachusetts federal judge, adopting a Magistrate's recommendation, dismissed an unusual religious discrimination claim filed by a former Amtrak employee. In a conflict with his union representative, Joseph Carmack had written a series of documents described as "Letters from Hell". The rambling letters, referring to "Lucifer", included a paraphrase of parts of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The letters were viewed as a threat under Amtrak's violence policy. Carmack was dismissed after he refused to submit to psychiatric examination.
Among Carmack's many claims challenging his firing were claims alleging religious discrimination under Title VII and violations of his First Amendment rights. He claimed that his letters, which were the underlying basis for his dismissal, expressed his belief in spiritual forces and used "standard cultural and religious expressions of God and ... Satan or Lucifer ... to refer to ... spiritual forces in which Plaintiff believes."
The court dismissed Carmack's Title VII and state employment discrimination claims for failing to exhaust his administrative remedies. It went on to hold that on the merits of both his statutory and First Amendment claims, Carmack had not shown that his letters involved any religious practice or that he was dismissed because of his religion.
