Mohamed v. 1st Class Staffing, LLC

286 F.Supp.3d 884

Abdi MOHAMED, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.1ST CLASS STAFFING, LLC, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 2:15–cv–3013

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

Signed December 14, 2017

Abdi Jama, Columbus, OH, pro se.

John Spenceley Marshall, Marshall and Forman, LLC, Romin Iqbal, Cair, Columbus, OH, Jennifer E. Nimer, Cair, Dublin, OH, for Plaintiffs.

Vincent T. Norwillo, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Robert C. Petrulis, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Cleveland, OH, Kelsey J. Schmidt, Pro Hac Vice, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Chicago, IL, Kevin J. Kinney, Pro Hac Vice, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Milwaukee, WI, for Defendants.

Opinion and Order

JAMES L. GRAHAM, United States District Judge

This religious accommodation suit stems from the decision of defendant employer Jacobson Warehouse Company, Inc. to cease allowing Muslim employees to use an area of the production floor for daily prayers during break times. Muslim employees had prayed in the otherwise empty and unused area for several years until Jacobson expanded its production lines. Jacobson converted the area into a space where it kept inventory and used forklifts.

Plaintiffs do not dispute Jacobson's right to convert the space for business purposes,¹ but they challenge Jacobson's alleged failure to offer reasonable alternative sites for prayer. Plaintiffs contend that Jacobson made the decision to eliminate their prayer site without warning and that the alternate sites which Jacobson offered lacked a sufficient measure of cleanliness and isolation from noise and foot traffic. Because Jacobson's decision was announced soon before plaintiffs needed to pray, plaintiffs allegedly were left with the following choice: (1) pray in an alternate site offered by Jacobson, but do so knowing that the prayer performed would not satisfy plaintiffs' religious standards; or (2) leave the workplace to go pray elsewhere, but do so under the threat of losing their jobs if they left. The complaint asserts claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for failure to accommodate plaintiffs' religious practices and for retaliation. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e–2(a), § 2000e(j) ; 2000e–3(a).

This matter is before the court on the motions for summary judgment filed by Jacobson (and its successors in interest, defendants Norbert Dentressangle S.A. and XPO Logistics, LLC) and by defendant 1st Class Staffing, LLC, a staffing agency which Jacobson utilized to hire plaintiffs. For the reasons that follow, those motions are denied.

I. Facts

A. General Background

Plaintiffs are fourteen individuals,² some of whom began their employment at Jacobson as early as 2012. All are refugees—thirteen from Somalia and one from Senegal. Each plaintiff is a practicing Muslim of the Sunni branch.

Jacobson is a logistics company that offers transportation, distribution, warehousing and packaging services. Jacobson provides packaging services to Mars Pet Food at a facility in West Jefferson, Ohio, and its operations occupy a segregated portion of the Mars facility. Jacobson controls a production floor, breakroom with adjacent restrooms, business office for management personnel, lobby/reception area and an enclosed outdoor patio. An outdoor parking lot is available to employees.

Jacobson directly employs management- and supervisory-level staff, but it uses staffing agencies to employ the production workforce. During the relevant timeframe, 1st Class supplied between 250 and 400 employees, including plaintiffs, to work as "line associates" on ten or more production lines. Line associates performed "pick and pack" duties, which involved removing cans of pet food from cartons and repackaging them for retail sale. The repackaged products were placed onto pallets and transported to a shipping area within the Mars facility.

The production lines operated from Monday through Thursday on two shifts. First shift ran from 5:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and second shift ran from 4:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. The first shift had 200 to 220 line associates and the second shift had 100 to 150. All of the plaintiffs worked second shift.

Workers on each shift received two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break. Each break was conducted in two stages, such that half of the second shift employees took their first 15 minute break at 6:00 p.m. and the other half took theirs at 6:15 p.m. The lunch breaks were taken at 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and the second round of 15 minute breaks took place at 1:00 a.m. and 1:15 a.m.

The General Manager for Jacobson at the Mars facility was Paul Hanna. Reporting to Hanna was Operations Manager David Nye. Jacobson assigned supervisors over the production lines. One of the production line supervisors was Sileymane Diako, a native of Senegal who was assigned to the second shift during the events at issue.

1st Class had one or more onsite managers who maintained an office within Jacobson's business office at the Mars facility. These onsite managers performed support functions such as conducting job interviews, processing payroll and providing a job orientation session. One of 1st Class's onsite managers was Alba Lopez.

B. Plaintiffs' Religious Beliefs and Practices

Prior to any of the plaintiffs' arrival at Jacobson, Muslim employees had used an empty area of the production floor to perform prayers during their breaks. Plaintiffs testified that they used this area to pray when they began their employment because they observed other Muslim employees already doing so without objection from supervisors. The area was situated near the breakroom and was approximately 20 feet by 30 feet in size. Defendants do not dispute that Muslim employees had been allowed to use the area to pray for several years.

In Islam, salat or ritual prayer is an expression of sincere faith. Muslims are to perform salat five times a day. Of importance to this case are two of the five prayers: the maghrib or sunset prayer and the isha or evening prayer. The sunset prayer is to be performed at dusk after the sun has set completely beneath the horizon. The evening prayer is to be performed after twilight has disappeared and before midnight. Punctual performance of each prayer is expected, although some flexibility is allowed in order to accommodate the worshiper's circumstances, such as work conditions. Many Muslims believe that they have a window of time in which to perform the prayers. (Expert Report of Kathleen Moore at 14–15). In January 2014, plaintiffs performed the sunset prayer during their 6:00 p.m. break and the evening prayer during their 9:00 p.m. lunch break.

The performance of ritual prayer involves several cycles of recitation while facing in the direction of Mecca. The cycles consist of a sequence of movements, including standing, kneeling, prostrating and sitting while reciting verses from the Qur'an. It took plaintiffs between three and five minutes to perform a prayer. (Ega Dep. at 60–61).

Prayers are to be performed in a clean space, free from human or animal bodily fluids and free from items such as cigarette butts, chewing gum and food wrappers and containers. (Moore Report at 16, 20). To create separation from the floor, plaintiffs placed a prayer mat or piece of cardboard on the floor and performed their prayer on top of the mat. (Ega Dep. at 24–25; S. Abdi Dep. at 89–90).

The prayer space must also be free from distraction because a prayer is invalidated when the penitent's concentration is broken. (Moore Report at 16). It is important that other people not cross in front of the penitent, to avoid both the risk of distraction and the appearance that the penitent is praying to a human being. (Id. at 17). Because the penitent prays with his eyes open, it is common for a Muslim to pray facing a barrier, such as a wall or curtain. (Id. at 18). The use of a barrier to create a prayer space is referred to as "satura." (Id. ) Praying outdoors or in a wide-open space with no barrier is disfavored. (Id. at 18–19).

Women are to maintain separation from men when praying. If women and men are praying in the same area at the same time, separation is achieved by the women praying behind the men or by using a curtain or other movable barrier. (Moore Report at 20). During the second shift breaks, there were sometimes as many as 20 to 30 Muslim employees needing to pray and sometimes as few as 5. (S. Abdi Dep. at 96–97; Abikar Dep. at 78). Depending on when and how many Muslim employees arrived, they would pray in small groups, taking turns if necessary. (Abikar Dep. at 17–18, 76–77; Alin Dep. at 47). The area of the production floor that plaintiffs used for prayer was large enough for a small group of men to pray in front and a small group of women to pray in back. (S. Abdi Dep. at 91–93; Abikar Dep. at 76–77).

C. Increased Production at the Facility

Jacobson began increasing production in September 2013. (Nye Decl. at ¶ 4). It added four production lines, installed a baler machine for waste cardboard and created a quality control area. (Id. at ¶¶ 4–5). Over the following months the space that plaintiffs had used to pray decreased in size as Jacobson installed 28–foot tall racking to store inventory and designated a forklift aisle in the area in late 2013. (Id. ) A smaller area remained where Muslim employees prayed in November and December 2013. (Nye Dep. at 65–66). By the end of the year, it was "full of stuff," including pallets. (Id. at 66, 70).

D. Jacobson Eliminates the Prayer Space and Offers Alternate Sites

In the morning of Thursday, January 9, 2014, Nye observed a Muslim employee praying in the forklift aisle located at or near the space that had been used for prayer. (Nye Dep. at 66–67). This raised safety concerns. (Id. at 67). Nye stood nearby for a few minutes to ensure that the employee could safely finish her prayer. (Id. at 68–69). He then went to Hanna and informed him of what he had observed. (Id. at 69).

After Nye told Hanna about seeing an...