In
Walden v. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (11th Cir., Feb. 7, 2012), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by Marcia Walden, a counselor in an employee assistance program at the CDC, that her free exercise rights under the 1st Amendment and RFRA were violated when she was laid off because of the way in which she handled a client in need of same-sex relationship counseling. Walden was employed by Computer Sciences Corp. which ran the employee assistance program for CDC, and her lay off came when CDC insisted on it. Walden is a devout Christian who believes that same-sex relationships are immoral. She referred a CDC employee client to an outside counselor, telling the client that the referral was "based on my personal values". The client said she felt "judged and condemned" by this referral. Walden refused the suggestion that in the future in referring out a gay or lesbian client, she not say it is because of her values. The court concluded:
The record is devoid of evidence supporting Ms. Walden’s claim that either defendant called for her removal from the EAP contract due to her religiously-based need to refer clients who needed same-sex relationship counseling.
Instead, ... they were concerned that she would behave the same way [in referring out a client] if a similar situation were to arise in the future. And, significantly, Ms. Walden testified that it was not part of her “religious beliefs” to tell clients ... that she could not counsel them due to her religious beliefs or personal values. Instead, she said she wanted “to be honest with my clients.”... She ... explained that “it seemed unfair that [Ms. Doe] was able to talk about being gay and lesbian, and yet I couldn’t freely talk about me and my religious beliefs, or being Christian.... To me, it’s about honesty. If she can be honest – I mean, I should be honest about why I’m transferring her.”
The court also rejected Walden's Title VII employment discrimination claim because reasonable accommodation had been offered by encouraging Walden to seek another position within the company. The
Wall Street Journal yesterday reported on the decision.
