Richard D. Peterson v. Hewlett-Packard Co., a Corporation

In this religious discrimination action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. and Idaho law, Richard Peterson claims that his former employer, the HewletL-Packard Company, engaged in disparate treatment by terminating him on account of his religious views and that it failed to accommodate his religious beliefs. The district court granted Hewlett-Packard’s motion for summary judgment on the grounds that: 1) Peterson failed to raise an inference of disparate treatment and 2) accommodating Peterson’s beliefs would inflict undue hardship upon Hewlett-Packard. We affirm.

I. Background

Peterson was employed in the Boise, Idaho office of Hewlett-Packard for almost 21 years prior to his termination. The parties do not dispute that Peterson’s job performance was satisfactory. The conflict between Peterson and Hewlett-Packard arose when the company began displaying “diversity posters” in its Boise office as one component of its workplace diversity campaign. The first series consisted of five posters, each showing a photograph of a Hewlett-Packard employee above the caption “Black,” “Blonde,” “Old,” “Gay,” or “Hispanic.” Posters in the second series…