ACLJ: Minnesota Officials Guilty of Religious Discrimination for Punishing Employees Who Brought Bibles to Diversity Training Session.

Business Editors & Legal Writers

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2002

The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, announced today that a federal jury has found that Minnesota officials violated the constitutional rights of state employees when it punished them for reading their bibles during a state-mandated diversity training session on homosexuality.

"This jury verdict sends a very loud message to government officials that they cannot single out and punish employees for their religious beliefs," said Francis J. Manion, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which represents the employees. "The jury clearly let the state of Minnesota know that punishing employees for expressing their religious views is not only wrong, but violates their basic constitutional rights as well."

After a three-day trial in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, a nine person jury unanimously agreed late yesterday that the Minnesota Department of Corrections had violated the free speech and equal protection rights of the employees and had discriminated against them on the basis of their religion. The jury awarded the employees damages totaling more than $78,000 including an award of $60,000 for punitive damages.

The ACLJ filed suit in April 1998 against the Department of Corrections in the state of Minnesota on behalf of Thomas Altman and Ken Yackly to force their employer to rescind the reprimands they received in 1997 when they attended the state-mandated training session called "Gays and Lesbians in the Workplace." The employees contended that the training session was little more than a state-sponsored indoctrination aimed at changing their religious beliefs about homosexuality.

The employees attended the training session and did not interfere with the presentation. They did, however, from time to time, read silently from their bibles. They were never told to put away their bibles and were subsequently reprimanded "for inappropriate and unprofessional conduct . . ."

In 1999, a federal district judge found that the actions of the state violated the free exercise of religion - but threw out the rest of the ACLJ suit which focused on free speech and equal protection claims. The ACLJ appealed that part of the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and in a decision in May 2001 the appeals court reversed the decision of the lower court, ordered that the case go to trial, and rejected claims made by the state that the employees were guilty of insubordination.

"Our clients never had an issue with the desire of the employer to ensure that co-workers treat each other with respect and dignity," said Manion, who argued the case before the jury. "But when the state of Minnesota tried to force these employees to change their beliefs about homosexuality, the government crossed the line and violated their constitutional rights. These employees did nothing more than bring their bibles to a training session with which they disagreed, and they were punished for it. We're very pleased and encouraged that the jury upheld the constitutional rights of our clients."

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and the web site address is www.aclj.org.