Court Upholds Unemployment Benefit Denial To Employee Who Refused To Wear Company's Religious Mission Statement

In Mathis v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, (PA Commonwth. Ct., April 9, 2013), the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that a former employee who left because he objected to wearing the religious message on his employer's identification badge voluntarily resigned without a compelling reason and so is ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits. The claimant, Paul Mathis, who was a sheet metal installer, objected to this mission statement of Christian Heating & Air Conditioning Co. on the reverse side of the badge:

This company is not only a business, it is a ministry. It is set on standards that are higher than man's own. Our goal is to run this company in a way most pleasing to the Lord. Treating employees and customers as we would want to be treated along with running a business as if we are all part of one big family is our plan.

The court concluded that Mathis had not offered evidence of any contrary sincerely held religious beliefs, nor did he attempt  to describe any actual conflict between a religious belief and the badge requirement.