Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 07/17/2010 2:41:57 PM PDT by NYer
A former bus driver has sued the Capital Area Rural Transportation System, charging that the nine-county transit service discriminated against him based on his religion when he was fired for refusing to drive women to a Planned Parenthood clinic in January.
Edwin Graning, who was hired as a driver on April 1, 2009, was "concerned that he might be transporting a client to undergo an abortion" when he was assigned to take two women to Planned Parenthood, according to his lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Austin.
Graning is seeking reinstatement, back pay and undisclosed damages for pain, suffering and emotion distress. He is represented by lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, founded by evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson.
Joanna Salinas, an Austin lawyer who represents the Capital Area Rural Transportation System, said, "CARTS denies that it discriminated against Mr. Graning because of his religion, and we are looking forward to responding to the lawsuit in court."
The system, operated under an agreement among participating counties, offers bus service on fixed routes and through requested pickup for residents in the nonurban areas of Travis and Williamson counties and in all of Bastrop, Burnet, Blanco, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays and Lee counties.
After he was dispatched to take the women to Planned Parenthood in January, Graning called his supervisor "and told her that, in good conscience, he could not take someone to have an abortion," his lawsuit said. The women's names, their location and the clinic location were not included in the lawsuit. Planned Parenthood also provides health care services unrelated to abortion.
Graning, a Kyle resident, is "an ordained Christian minister who is opposed to abortion," the lawsuit said.
His supervisor, who is not named, responded by saying, "Then you are resigning," the suit said.
Graning denied he was resigning and was later told to drive his bus back to the yard and then was fired, the lawsuit said.
Graning's suit claims violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
One of Graning's lawyers, Thomas S. Brandon Jr. of Fort Worth, said the law requires the transportation system to make accommodate Graning's religious beliefs unless it causes a "substantial financial hardship."
"We understand that if someone is using a public service \u2026 they are entitled to go wherever without regard to a distinction on whether it is morally right or not," Brandon said. "But Mr. Graning as a driver had a strong religious conviction about abortion."
Julius "Jack" Getman , a labor law professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said the case could hinge on whether Graning had made it clear ahead of time that his religious views would prevent him from taking someone to an abortion.
"They (CARTS) may say he was not reasonable because 'he sprung it on us and it is insubordination,'\u2009" Getman said. "They may be able to say that's required in his job."
Let’s see how consistent FReepers are in their comments.
But if a Muslim driver won’t carry a passenger who has a bottle of wine, that’s OK.
Oh,but had he been a muzzi they would have fallen all over themselves.Disgusting.
Consistent? Don’t you mean intelligent?
Should an atheist be fired when he refuses to transport a person to church?
>> Let’s see how consistent FReepers are in their comments.
Consistency is subjective. What’s your point?
>> Should an atheist be fired when he refuses to transport a person to church?
I don’t see the implied connection between prayer and butchering a human to death.
Yes.
Okay. The transit company is a private business. Their job is to transport people from point A to point B. If a driver has a problem with that, the business has every right to fire that employee.
He was hired to be a bus driver and not a mind reader to determine what his passengers planned to do at their destination.
They were right to fire him.
That's an easy one.
He should go to church with them.
Ditto...
Agreed.
In what world is that okay? Muzzie gets fired too.
The bus company was well within their rights to fire him. A bus has to take people where they want to go.
The driver should take his firing as a badge of honor for refusing to violate his principles. He did the right thing, and it cost him his job.
Agreed. If transporting people to abortion clinics is against his beliefs, then the driver needs to find another line of work where he won't have to choose between his principles and his occupational tasks.
>> the business has every right to fire that employee.
BS.
Business does NOT have every right to fire for whatever reason. It seems, however, when Christian and Pro-Life issues arise in the workplace, there is zero tolerance.
It’s idiotic to take the “ideal” position of Liberties only when it’s at the expense of Conservative values - not ignoring the fact the bus driver was hoping to save a life.
The bravado expressed on behalf of the company is predictably ridiculous, and not indicative of the intellectual superiority suggested by other posts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.