Mathewson v. Florida Game & Fresh Water Fish Commission

693 F. Supp. 1044, 1988 WL 89564
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 24, 1988
Docket86-58 Civ-T-10(A)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 693 F. Supp. 1044 (Mathewson v. Florida Game & Fresh Water Fish Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mathewson v. Florida Game & Fresh Water Fish Commission, 693 F. Supp. 1044, 1988 WL 89564 (M.D. Fla. 1988).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

HODGES, Chief Judge.

This is an action claiming religious discrimination in employment, brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (Title VII). The case was tried to the Court on September 21— 23, 1987.

The Plaintiff, Dave M. Mathewson, is a former Wildlife Lieutenant of the Defendant, the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, and is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. The tenets of the Seventh-day Adventist faith prohibit work on the Sabbath which is the period between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. The Plaintiff was discharged for insubordination after refusing to work Saturday February 12, 1983. The Plaintiff contends that he was discharged in violation of Title VII because the Defendant failed to make a reasonable accommodation of his desire not to perform Sabbath work. The Defendant contends that it made efforts to reasonably accommodate the Plaintiff’s religious convictions.

Prior to trial the parties stipulated to the dismissal of Plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims and of all individually-named Defendants. They also stipulated the Defendant Department of Administration, Division of Retirement, is a party only to effect any equitable or injunctive relief which might be ordered.

The parties have further stipulated to many of the facts. Other facts adduced at trial were not disputed. The parties agree that the Commission first hired the Plaintiff in early 1963 as a Wildlife Officer assigned to Gulf Hammock, Levy County, within the Commission’s Northeast Region. In 1968 the Plaintiff was promoted to the position of Area Law Enforcement Supervisor with the rank of Lieutenant. As a lieutenant the Plaintiff was assigned to the Commission’s South Region, headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Thereafter, Plaintiff’s rank, position and area of responsibility remained essentially the same until his termination on March 21, 1983.

At the trial the Plaintiff testified that he was a sworn law enforcement officer charged primarily with enforcing Florida’s game and fresh water fish laws and regulations. However, the Plaintiff’s duties were not limited to the enforcement of game and fish laws. As a lieutenant he supervised four Wildlife Sergeants who, in turn, supervised five to seven Wildlife Officers each. The Plaintiff’s time was, for the *1046 most part, divided equally between time in the office performing administrative tasks and time “in the field” supervising his officers and performing law enforcement duties.

The “South Region” consists of thirteen counties, or about one-fifth of the State of Florida. The Plaintiffs geographic area of responsibility included half of those counties; Lieutenant Doxey, who also was headquartered at Lakeland, supervised the remaining counties. Lieutenant Doxey’s geographic area of responsibility and duties were equal to the Plaintiffs. They were the only Wildlife Lieutenants in the region.

The Plaintiff and Doxey were both supervised by Captain Floyd Buckhalter, Regional Law Enforcement Supervisor assigned to the Lakeland office. Captain Buckhalter reported to Lieutenant Colonel Brantly Goodson, Director of the Division of Law Enforcement in Tallahassee, Florida. The Executive Director for the Commission has, at all times relevant to this action, been Colonel Robert M. Brantly, whose office is also located in Tallahassee.

It is not disputed that sometime in 1975 the Plaintiff became a Seventh-day Adventist, and that the tenets of the Seventh-day Adventist faith prohibit working on the Sabbath which is from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. Nevertheless, the Plaintiff continued to work on his Sabbath, especially during peak activity times such as the first days of dove hunting season and general hunting season. 1 The Plaintiff stated that in 1980, however, his faith began to grow stronger and he generally ceased to work Saturdays during the daylight hours. The Plaintiff stated that he worked two Saturdays in 1980 during the daylight hours. Plaintiffs Biweekly Activity Report reflects that he did work the first day of the general hunting season, Saturday, November 8,1980 (Plaintiffs Exhibit 19).

Wildlife Lieutenants were not assigned regular days off but scheduled their own work and were expected to be on duty irregular hours with varying days off. The purpose of this practice was to prevent game poachers from being able to predict the absence of Wildlife Officers from the area. The Plaintiffs position description, signed by him on October 17, 1978, states in part that his position required:

Varied working hours, works most weekends, holidays, and nights. This employee is responsible for the protection of wildlife, fish, ecology and environment in his assigned area and is on call 24-hours a day.

(Defendant’s Exhibit 28).

Nevertheless, after November 8, 1980, the Plaintiff again ceased working during daylight hours on Saturday. Sometime in early 1981, at an Organization of Florida Fishermen meeting, the Plaintiff discussed his need for religious accommodation with Colonel Goodson. Colonel Goodson also discussed certain health problems he believed the Plaintiff was experiencing. Based upon this discussion, Colonel Good-son offered the Plaintiff the job of First Sergeant in the Lakeland office at no reduction in pay. He had also previously offered the Plaintiff that job when the position was first created in 1980, but the first offer was apparently not an attempt to accommodate the Plaintiff’s religious needs which were unknown to Goodson at the time.

The position of First Sergeant was an office job which would require weekend work only in case of extreme emergency. Colonel Brown testified that he could not recall a single emergency which had required the officer holding the position to work on a weekend.

According to Colonel Goodson, the position was offered to the Plaintiff both as an accommodation to his religious beliefs and to resolve the Plaintiff’s stated health problems. Colonel Goodson further testified that he ordered the Plaintiff to undergo a physical examination on February 26, 1981 (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1), and the results showed that the Plaintiff had no health problems. Following this determination, *1047 the offer of the First Sergeant’s position remained open solely as an accommodation to Plaintiff’s religious beliefs.

The Plaintiff refused the offer, stating that he did not want a desk job and preferred to remain in the field. He also did not want to accept a reduction in rank. The reduction in rank would not have been accompanied by a reduction in salary, but the Plaintiff feared that his salary would have been frozen for a period of time and that future increases would not be as large as those given the rank of Lieutenant.

The sergeant’s position was not offered to the Plaintiff after the end of March, 1981, because the position was filled by another employee who remains in the job.

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693 F. Supp. 1044, 1988 WL 89564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathewson-v-florida-game-fresh-water-fish-commission-flmd-1988.