## Facts

- Isaiah Brown, a Black “born-again Christian,” was hired in 1986 as director of Polk County’s information services department, supervising about fifty employees and reporting to the county administrator.
- In 1990, a county investigation reported religious activity in Brown’s department, including typing Bible study notes with a secretary, prayers in Brown’s office (before workdays and during daytime meetings), and Brown’s references to Christianity and Bible passages about work ethic.
- The county administrator issued Brown a written reprimand for “lack of judgment,” directing him to immediately cease any activities that “could be considered” religious proselytizing, witnessing, counseling, or use of county resources that “could be perceived” as supporting religious activity, and to ensure a workplace free of such activities.
- The administrator later ordered Brown to remove from his office all items with a religious connotation, including a Bible kept in his desk.
- Brown later received a separate reprimand related to budget constraints; shortly thereafter, following an investigation into employees’ personal use of county computers, the administrator asked Brown to resign and then terminated him when he refused.
- Brown sued the County, the county administrator, and the Board of Supervisors under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (First Amendment and equal protection) and under Title VII for religious discrimination.
- After a bench trial, the district court entered judgment for defendants on all claims.

## Issues

1. Whether Brown’s discipline and termination constituted religious discrimination under Title VII, including whether protected religious activity was a motivating factor and whether the County proved it would have taken the same action absent that activity.
2. Whether the County’s reprimand and directive removing religious items from Brown’s office violated Brown’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause, Free Speech Clause, or Equal Protection Clause, enforceable through § 1983.

## Decision

- The en banc Eighth Circuit reversed the judgment for defendants on the Title VII religious discrimination claim and remanded for relief.
- The court held Brown showed his religious activity “played a part” in the termination, and the County failed to prove he would have been fired regardless of that protected conduct.
- The court concluded the County did not attempt reasonable accommodation and did not prove undue hardship from permitting the challenged religious practices.
- On the § 1983 constitutional claims, the court largely affirmed the district court’s rejection of Brown’s claims for relief, while criticizing the County’s restrictions as overly broad and not narrowly tailored, particularly the order to remove all religious items (including a private Bible in a desk).

## Legal Principles

- Under Title VII, once an employee shows protected religious conduct was a motivating factor in an adverse action, the employer bears the burden to show the same action would have occurred absent the protected conduct.
- Title VII requires reasonable accommodation of an employee’s religious practices unless the employer proves undue hardship.
- A public employer may regulate workplace religious conduct to avoid governmental endorsement of religion and to prevent disruption, but restrictions should be narrowly tailored to legitimate governmental interests.
- Blanket prohibitions on religious expression—such as bans keyed to what “could be perceived” as religious support or directives to remove all religious items, including privately kept materials—risk being overbroad when not tied to coercion, disruption, or use of public resources for official religious activity.

## Conclusion

The en banc court held that Polk County violated Title VII by terminating Brown at least in part because of his religious activity and by failing to prove it would have fired him absent that factor or that accommodation would have imposed undue hardship; it remanded for relief while largely affirming against Brown’s § 1983 claims and warning that the County’s broad restrictions on workplace religious expression were overbroad.


Brown v. Polk County, 61 F.3d 650 (8th Cir. 1995) (en banc)