Peggy Peridot was a librarian at Mulder Fox Middle School in Middle, Colorado (near Colorado Springs). She came to your law firm (in Colorado) to consider pursuing a case for employment discrimination. Peggy Peridot had worked at the school for just over 3 years, and then was fired from her job because of her religion. She practices a religion that she calls Celestial Nature. She said that her beliefs come from her mother, who learned the practices from a group of women in the village in which she was born, in Belgium. Peggy explains that this religion is similar to Wicca in its rituals and emphasis on the power of nature. She says that each month she performs several rituals of dance and chanting in nature as part of her religion. Occasionally, Peggy needed to take a day off from work for religious observance - for example, certain days in relation to the lunar cycle or harvest. Peggy used a personal or sick day for those absences, but failed to tell the school those days were for religious observance. She wears a small bag of herbs on a necklace that symbolize her connection to nature. She also prefers to wear a green scarf tied in a band in her hair, because she believes it gives her spiritual strength. There are no other people in Middle who practice the same religion as Peggy, so she sometimes joins in with nearby Wiccan groups for rituals and events. When Peggy is asked about her belief system, she says that there is not a set of written rules or texts, but that she generally believes that there is a spirit that connects all living things, and that her mother told her about the rituals for her religion.

Four months ago, one of the students at the school, Tina Topaz, had been getting help from Peggy to find reference materials and decided to ask her about her necklace. Peggy said that she gave a short 2-minute explanation about her religion and the meaning of the herbs, and then she continued to discuss reference materials. After that, she realized that students must have told others, because some other students asked her about being a "witch." Peggy offered brief responses to the questions, but otherwise she did not talk about her religion to the students. Then, 3 months ago, Peggy was called to the office of the principal (Oliver Onyx), and he told her that several parents had complained about her teaching witchcraft at school. Peggy explained her religion, which she had not discussed previously with the principal, and she emphasized that she was not teaching witchcraft, but had answered some of the students' questions.

Shortly after that, one of the school's parents passed by and saw Peggy dancing in her own yard, early on a Saturday morning; she was doing what she called a dance of blessing. That prompted more complaints to the principal from multiple parents about Peggy being a bad influence on the children. The principal asked Peggy to stop wearing the scarf in her hair, and to remove her necklace while she was working with students. He pointed to a dress code policy in the faculty and staff manual that prohibited head coverings inside the building during school hours (unless for religious reasons), and generally asked faculty and staff to model positive values in their attire. Peggy explained again that these items were connected to her religion, and the principal responded that he was skeptical that it was a real religion. Then, 2 months ago, Peggy requested a personal day off, because it was a religious ritual day for her. Mr. Onyx reminded her that there was a mandatory training exercise scheduled for school faculty and staff that day. Peggy responded that she needed the day for religious observance, and then she took that day off. However, she was asked to find out how she could make up the training.

Nonetheless, a week after she missed the training, the principal initiated the process to terminate her employment, saying that she had not complied with a mandatory training and was not performing her duties effectively. Peggy points out that her reviews had been high up until the time that her religious beliefs became known to some of the parents and the principal. The principal and other administrators involved in terminating her employment expressed that they did not think that she practiced a real religion, and that her beliefs were against the kinds of values they wanted to model for the children. Peggy would need to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before she could file any employment discrimination action in federal court. However, she wanted to consult with an attorney first, to get advice on whether she has a claim worth pursuing.

Lana Lapis, a partner at the law firm, asks you to conduct research to determine if Peggy has a valid claim about the school discriminating against her on the basis of religion. While there could be a possible state claim, Lana tells you to focus on federal law, specifically the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers that have 15 or more employees from discriminating based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. The main questions Lana would like for you to research are: 1) Determine if Peggy's Celestial Nature beliefs would qualify as "sincerely held religious belief" for the purposes of the statute; and 2) Determine if the school failed to reasonably accommodate Peggy's religious beliefs.

Lana suggests that in addition to the statute, secondary sources, and relevant case law, you examine the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section that addresses the EEOC's position concerning the beliefs and practices that constitute religious beliefs.

Research Log: Lana asks you to conduct a thorough legal research project. You will need to submit your research log to her at the end of the week. A research log generally takes the format of a table or outline, with entries indicating the issue being researched, the research plan and path, which databases/library sources were consulted, search terms used, and the relevant sources that were identified (with annotations of how the source is relevant, as well as indications of the outcome of cite-checking for case law). There is a sample of a research log in the course materials for the week. This research log will identify the sources that will form the basis of the legal memorandum you will need to draft in Week 6.

While the main task is to research these questions thoroughly, your research log should identify at least two (2) secondary sources, one (1) statute, one (1) federal regulation, and five (5) judicial opinions.