Detroit, USA - A retired Michigan State Police trooper who was injured on the job says the state is punishing him for refusing to work as a chaplain, despite the fact he is not ordained and has received no "divine calling" to the ministry.
Bruce Paris, 44, of Belleville is suing the state and the State Police in federal court, alleging violation of his religious rights.
The complaint turns the usual religious discrimination case on its head. Typically, employees allege their bosses won't accommodate their religious practices, such as wearing a turban or refusing to work a certain day of the week. Paris, a member of the Pentecostal church who holds a master's degree in biblical studies, claims the state wants to foist him into a religious job he can't comfortably perform.
"You can't just walk in and become a member of the clergy without being called," Paris said. "Without the call of God, my conscience wouldn't let me."
Shanon Akans, a spokeswoman for the State Police, confirmed Tuesday the department was served with the lawsuit but declined further comment because the matter is before the courts.
Paris injured his back, shoulder and hand in 2000 when a semi-trailer smashed into the back of his patrol cruiser stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 696 in Roseville. In 2002, the state granted Paris a disability retirement, allowing him to draw 60 percent of his income from pension funds and the other 40 percent from worker compensation benefits.
But the state terminated Paris' worker compensation benefits last year after he refused to work as a prison chaplain in the Michigan Department of Corrections, according to the suit filed on March 9.
The 40 percent cut in Paris' pay was over the objections of the area leader of his church, Bishop John H. Sheard of Church of God in Christ Inc. Sheard wrote the company that handles worker compensation matters for the state, saying it would violate church doctrine for Paris to accept the job.
"The state was forcing him to violate the precepts of his Pentecostal religion, which is that you need a divine call in order to be a minister, and he didn't have it," said Paris' attorney, Lynn Shecter of Bloomfield Hills.
State troopers are paid $35,600 to $55,269 per year, depending on experience, Akans said. The department has no desk jobs for troopers, she said.
The Michigan Civil Service Department's job description for "institution chaplain" does not specifically require that candidates be ordained, but it includes planning and conducting religious services, including marriages and funerals, and providing pastoral care at times of death or serious illness among the job duties. The state has about 40 paid prison chaplains who earn about $36,000 to $48,000 a year, said Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan.
If Paris took another state job, the full income from that job would be in addition to any pension he receives from the State Police, said a spokesman for the Office of the State Employer.
Paris was raised in Detroit and had worked more than 15 years with the State Police in Wayne and Oakland counties. He said he received two meritorious service awards, as well as a life-saving award for giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a minister who had a heart attack on the freeway. Divorced and supporting three children, Paris is engaged to be married again.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook.
James A. Sonne, an associate professor of law at Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor, said he is not aware of any precedent for the Paris case.
"It's multilayered," Sonne said.
"It has state disability law combined with constitutional law combined with laws concerning religious liberties in the workplace. It has something for everyone."
David A. Larson, a law professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., said Paris' assertion that he can't perform the job, combined with the letter from his bishop, together suggest he has a credible claim based on religion.