February 25, 2002
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
San Francisco District Office
901 Market Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 356-5100
I, Jason Hommel, hereby file with the EEOC this complaint against: Squaw Valley Ski Corporation (SVSC), whose address and phone number is:
Squaw Valley Ski Corporation
P.O. Box 2007
Olympic Valley, CA 96146
(530) 583-6985
SVSC discriminated against me, and fired me based on my religious beliefs. SVSC failed to make reasonable accommodation for my religious beliefs. On Wednesday, Dec. 12, I was hired as a Masters Ski Coach. The coaching staff was very happy to have me because I have an extensive ski racing background since I raced until age 23. I was nationally ranked in the top 30-50 in the United States, and I competed in the U.S. Nationals. I worked two and a half days coaching at SVSC from Dec. 14th to Dec. 16th 2001. At noon on Dec. 16th, Gary Peterson, head of Race Services, and Julie in the HR department each told me that I wouldn’t be able to continue to work for Squaw Valley unless I gave them a Social Security Number or got one.
Several people at SVSC acknowledged that the Amish do not use SSNs, and acknowledged that there are exemptions for the Amish, and so they asked me, “Are you Amish?” This question implied that they would only hire me or take my religious beliefs seriously if I was Amish! This is absolutely a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. After attempting for several days to resolve this new hire paperwork problem in person with several people at SVSC, I notified SVSC by certified letters that I do not use a Social Security Number (SSN) due to my religious beliefs.
To reasonably accommodate my religious beliefs, SVSC said they would need to do the following things that they claimed might cause them undue hardship. They refused to do the following:
1. Hand write a check for my wages,
2. Create and assign me a unique identifying number on their employee season pass ID card, such as 000-00-0001,
3. File an affidavit or statement to the appropriate government agencies that they followed their legal requirement to ask me for a number, and state that they were unable to obtain a SSN from me because I do not have one due to my religious beliefs.
I don’t think any of these things are an unreasonable burdensome for SVSC’s business.
SVSC said that unless I filled out a W-4 agreement, complete with a valid SSN, (which I do not use due to my religious beliefs), then they would not hire me. This is discrimination against my religious beliefs.
The EEOC has ruled in favor of other people with similar complaints, and I repeatedly notified SVSC of this fact and other laws, as is evident in the attached copies of letters I sent them. SVSC, with this knowledge, still fired me. This goes to show their willfulness and knowledgeable disregard for the law, intentional discrimination against me, and their reckless indifference to my federally protected rights, for which stronger compensatory and punitive damages may be recovered under the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Several people at SVSC told me that if I had a problem, then I should sue them and file an EEOC complaint, but that they would not hire me without a SSN, unless they were told to by a lawyer or by a judgement against them.
When I spoke with Jim Brady, head of HR at SVSC, and I tried to point out the law to him, he told me he did not care about any law that I might cite to him for four reasons. First, he said the law did not matter because it can be interpreted any number of ways. Second, he said that he had no way of knowing whether or not the law I had to show him was, in fact the law, or something I just made up. Third, he said he did not have time to check whether or not the law was in fact real. Fourth, he said he did not care about the law because he already spoke with his superior, Ron Welton, about my situation, and Jim told me that Ron would not let him hire me anyway. This type of behavior was typical of nearly everyone at SVSC. They would demand I show them the law, or what lawyers had to say, or what court cases had to say. And then, after I told them I could do that, they would change and say they did not care, or did not have time, or that they did not have the authority to do anything about it. Ron Welton, controller, is the one who everyone said had authority to make a decision, so I sent my first letter to him.
The following is some of the information I sent SVSC in my first letter to them (see attachment 1) regarding prior EEOC rulings:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has successfully prosecuted several employers for discriminating against people who do not have social security numbers due to their religious beliefs.
In 1992, in Civil Action No. CA3-92-0169-T, the EEOC sued an employer for discriminating against Mr. Hanson, who did not have a social security number for religious reasons, and the EEOC stated that the only requirement imposed upon businesses by the various tax laws was that employers must "request" an employee's or potential employee's taxpayer identification number, and that there was be no penalty for a business not succeeding in obtaining one. The EEOC, itself a federal government agency, stated in its "Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss" that:
the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations promulgated pursuant to the code do not contain an absolute requirement that an employer provide an employee social security number to the IRS.
In February 2001, the EEOC again said basically the same thing in another similar case.
Charging Party (the employee) alleges that he was denied reasonable accommodation and discharged because of his religion, Protestant.
The evidence reveals that the respondent (the employer) could have accommodated the Charging Party without undue hardship. All that was necessary was that it request a social security number and so notify the Internal Revenue Service by affidavit, that it had done so.
Based on the foregoing, it is concluded there is a reasonable cause to believe that the Respondent has violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as emended, by failing to provide Charging Party with a religious accommodation and discharging him from employment.
The above most recent ruling in 2001 by the EEOC, a 322K jpg picture
of an EEOC letter, can be found at either of the following urls:
Original source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/no_ssn/message/51
My web page: http://www.linkjesus.com/eeoc.jpg
I believe the EEOC made these statements and rulings based on the following two codes:
26 USC Sec. 6724 : "No penalty shall be imposed [to the employer] under this part with respect to any failure [to obtain a SSN from an employee] if it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect."
Treasury Regulation 301.6109-1(c): ... "When the person filing the return statement, or other document does not know the SSN of the other person, and has complied with the request provision of this paragraph, he shall sign an affidavit on the transmittal document forwarding such returns, statements, or other documents to the Internal Revenue Service so stating. A payor is required to request the identifying number of the payee. If after such request has been made, the payee does not furnish the payor with an identifying number, the penalty ($50.00) will not be assessed against the payor, if it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect."
After I sent my first letter containing the above information, Ron Welton, controller at SVSC, replied with a letter and phone call and said that he was required to report a SSN for every employee to the EDD, and so it was a requirement of the State of California. In other words, he tried to avoid responsibility for making the decision to not hire me by blaming the State of California and the EDD. I contacted the EDD myself (see attachment 2), and found that his claims were not true. I have written confirmation (see attachment 3) from the EDD Audit Section Chief, Field Audit and Compliance Division, Tax Branch, Marty Kashevaroff, in response to my questions that: 1. The EDD would not penalize an employer for hiring a person without a SSN, and 2. The EDD does not set the hiring practices of private businesses and does not mandate that employers only hire people with SSNs. This EDD decision is in complete harmony with the laws I tried to show to SVSC, and with prior EEOC rulings.
After I showed Ron Welton the EDD’s response on Feb 14th, 2002, he still refused to hire me.
I therefore request the EEOC to issue a “right to sue” letter in this matter on my behalf.
I also request the EEOC sue SVSC on my behalf for compensatory damages for lost wages and the inconvenience of having to write letters and file a lawsuit; and punitive damages.
I am also filing criminal charges against Ron Welton with the U.S. Department of Justice based on his violation of the following federal codes: 42 USC Sec. 408, 18 USC Sec 242, and 42 USC Sec 1983, and I am also including a copy of my criminal complaint.
This case and the above claims can be easily investigated and easily proved, since so many people were involved who can be questioned, and since I sent letters (certified return receipt requested) to the staff at SVSC. Three ski coaches on staff at SVSC were all disappointed that I was terminated, and have wished me success in this situation; therefore, I am sure they would cooperate in any investigation. The following people at SVSC were involved, notified by letters, and are aware of this matter: Alec Cushing, Founder and Chairman; Nancy Wendt, President; Hans A. Burkhart, General Manager; Ron Welton, Controller; Jim Brady, Head of Human Resources; Gary Pedersen, Race Services; Sid Crocket, Race Department; Chris Rawson, Race Department.
Enclosed you will also find my diary of events relating to getting hired at SVSC, copies of the letters I sent to SVSC regarding this matter, copies of their replies to my letters, and copies of EDD correspondence. These supporting documents can also be found online at http://www.linkjesus.com/squaw.htm
I am also copying this letter to a law firm which specializes in EEOC cases, and who advised me to file a complaint with the EEOC myself.
I will look forward to your prompt written reply regarding the status
of my complaint.
Sincerely,
Jason Hommel
cc:
Daria Dimitroff, Esq
Siegel & LeWitter
1939 Harrison Street Suite 307
Oakland, CA 94612
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave.
NW Washington, D.C. 20530
Also published to: http://www.linkjesus.com/squaw.htm