In 1998, Allstate Insurance announced a new "Service Availability Standards" policy that required its agents to extend their office hours. Under the policy, which was to take effect in 1999, agents were expected to keep their offices open Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Terry and David Goldmeier are a husband-and-wife team of insurance agents who operated an Allstate office in Ohio. The Goldmeiers are also Sabbath-observant Orthodox Jews and follow a religious prohibition against working from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday.

After learning of the new policy, the Goldmeiers informed Allstate that the policy conflicted with their religious obligations. Initially, Allstate said that there would be no exceptions to the extended hours policy. However, it suggested that the Goldmeiers could hire a licensed insurance agent to cover the office when they could not be present.

The Goldmeiers, however, did not want to be financially responsible for another agent. So, in November 1998, the Goldmeiers informed Allstate that they considered themselves to be constructively discharged and felt forced to resign. Additionally, the Goldmeiers had, even before tendering their resignations, accepted new positions with another employer.

About one year later, the Goldmeiers sued Allstate, claiming that they were victims of employment discrimination based on their religious beliefs. The Court noted that to prevail in a religious discrimination case, employees must show 1) a sincere religious belief that conflicts with an employment requirement; 2) that [they have] informed [their] employer of the conflict; and 3) that [they were] discharged or disciplined for failing to comply with the conflicting requirement."

In this case, the court stated, "The Goldmeiers were faced with a choice of violating the Sabbath or hiring outside staff using either their own funds or their limited office expense allowance.... Such an incompatibility between an employment and a religious requirement is sufficient to create a conflict."

However, the Court noted that the Goldmeiers were not "discharged or disciplined" by their employer, nor were they forced to quit. "The Court agreed with the Goldmeiers that "Allstate intransigently refused to adjust the new office hours to be more congenial to the Goldmeiers. This intransigence, if it had not been tempered, as in fact it was, could potentially have led to an actual discharge at some point in the future."

Unfortunately for the Goldmeiers, this was not their situation. Instead, the Court concluded, "they resigned and were not discharged, actually or constructively. Therefore, they have no claim." [Goldmeier v. Allstate (6th Cir. 2003) no. 01-3888]

The courts consistently affirm an employee's right to request reasonable accommodation when religious observance conflicts with employer policies. Title VII requires that reasonable accommodations be offered when conflicts arise. However, the employee has an obligation to engage in the process of negotiation in the same ways that an employer is required to participate. Agents (supervisors, managers, faculty, etc.) at the University of Redlands should contact HR or the EEO Office for assistance when requests for reasonable accommodation are made by employees or students.