Paul Kelly (United States Court of Appeals judge)

Paul Kelly

United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit (senior status)

Tenure

2017 - Present

Years in position

7

Prior offices

United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit

Education

Personal

Court sides with Abercrombie in religious discrimination case (2013)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 11-5110)

On October 1, 2013, the Tenth Circuit vacated a trial court summary judgment ruling in a suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of a would-be Muslim employee after the clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) declined to hire her because she wore a headscarf. Judge Jerome Holmes wrote for the majority, joined by Judge Paul Kelly. Judge David Ebel wrote separately, concurring in part and dissenting in part. In the underlying case, the plaintiff, Samantha Elauf, interviewed for a job at A&F while wearing a religious headscarf, but did not specifically inform her interviewer that she wore it for a religious purpose; the interviewer merely assumed that it was worn for a religious purpose. Ultimately, Elauf was not hired because her headscarf violated A&F's dress code. In the ruling, Holmes noted that the trial court's decision was erroneous -- there can be no religious discrimination without notification of the need for a religious accommodation. Here, because Elauf failed to tell her interviewer that she would need an accommodation for her religious headscarf, the EEOC would not have been unable to conclusively establish that A&F had actual notice of her religious needs. In his separate opinion, Ebel agreed that the trial court's decision was incorrect, but argued that the question of discrimination should have been sent to a jury.^[4][5]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Federal Judicial Center, "Biographical directory of federal judges," accessed August 16, 2016
2. ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 102nd Congress," accessed August 16, 2016
3. ↑ United States Congress, "PN 786 - Paul J. Kelly, Jr. - The Judiciary," accessed August 16, 2016
4. ↑ Huffington Post, "Court Sides With Abercrombie In Oklahoma Hijab Lawsuit," October 2, 2013
5. ↑ National Law Journal, "Tenth Circuit Sides with Abercrombie in Hijab Case," October 3, 2013