From Staff Reports

Months after she was baptized as a Seventh-Day Adventist, a professional South Carolina-based cellist has filed a lawsuit, claiming she later was terminated from her longtime job with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra because of her religious beliefs.

Jacqueline Taylor, formerly a tenured principal cellist with the group for 22 years, lost her job after requesting not to work on her Sabbath, according to her civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The vast majority of similar civil lawsuits never reach trial, Asheville lawyer Grant Osborne told local news media. Meanwhile, four counts in Taylor’s complaint already have been dismissed.

The complaint names four defendants: ASO Executive Director David Whitehill, and three ASO board members, William Gettys, Irene Stoll and Jack Anderson.

Taylor was baptized as a Seventh-Day Adventist on Jan. 4, 2014. The faith observes the Sabbath during the 24-hour period from sunset Friday through sunset Saturday.

In March 2014, the ASO failed to grant Taylor an excused absence or offer an accommodation for her “firmly held religious belief and practices,” the complaint notes. Later, she was terminated and “lost a source of income, suffered irreparable damages to her professional career and experienced emotional distress.”

In court papers and through its attorney Matthew Gilley, the ASO responded that it acted in accord with the law and could not accommodate Taylor’s request without being put under an unreasonable burden.

In a letter written to Taylor’s agents on March 18, 2014, and filed as a court record, Whitehill said that “the orchestra respects her religious beliefs. But the time period she requests to be relieved of duties encompasses two key rehearsals, including the dress rehearsal, and for concerts, the actual performance.”

Osborne, who specializes in employment law, told the Asheville Citizen-Times that the law does not stipulate that employers provide employees with accommodations they want or accommodations they deem fair. Rather, he said the law dictates employers refrain from ulawful discrimination.

“The burden on employers is fairly light,” he told the AC-T, adding that if an employee cannot work on a day an employer deems critical, it is likely the employer does not have to offer the accommodation.

“I think it would be fair to say that the employer would have a good argument that it would be an undo hardship,” Osborne said.

Whitehill wrote in the March letter that the ASO does not have different shifts or the ability to swap positions, noting her request cannot be fulfilled “without significant and expensive hardship.

“Ms. Taylor has worked very hard to be the principal of the cellists, but that requrest that she be able to rehearse and perform with the cellists and with the orchestra.”

In reference to upcoming Masterworks concert, Whitehill wrote later in the March letter that, “If Ms. Taylor is unwilling to attend the rehearsal on Friday and Saturday and perform at these concerts, then the ASO will have no choice but seek a replacement for these concerts. Please also understand that if Ms. Taylor is unable to attend both Friday night and Saturday morning rehearsals on a regular basis for next season, the ASO will not be able to renew her contract for next season.”

Gilley, a South Carolina-based attorney, told the AC-T he believes Taylor’s allegations are “unfounded” and that the symphony acted appropriately.

“This lawsuit will in no way distract the symphony from its mission to perform and promote symphonic music for the benefit, enjoyment and education for the people of Western North Carolina,” Gilley wrote in an email to the AC-T.

The complaint also states that before being baptized, Taylor had made several requests to ASO management for excused absences from rehearsals, and “every request for an excused absence had been granted by management without question.”