Discrimination Found In School's Differential Holiday Leave

In Troy v. City of Lynn School District, 2007 Mass. Comm. Discrim. LEXIS 19 (MCAD, April 18, 2007), the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination held that the Lynn school system’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the school administrator’s union discriminated against a Catholic employee. The CBA provided that in addition to general school holidays for Christmas and Good Friday, paid leave was granted to Jewish employees for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; and to Orthodox employees for Orthodox Good Friday. Administrator Paul Troy, a devout Roman Catholic, was refused his request to have Holy Thursday and Ascension Thursday off as paid holidays. The Commission held that the school had put forward no legitimate non-discriminatory reason for treating members of different religious faiths differently. The Commission ordered the school to end discrimination based on religious affiliation and to pay $4857 in damages to Troy. [Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw listserv for the lead.]