Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

“ The overriding purpose of the Employment Security Act is to alleviate the economic hardship incident to unemployment, on the premise that economic insecurity from unemployment is a menace to the health, morals, and welfare of all Maine citizens. ”

“ He is not, therefore, *1381 so positioned as to be entitled to claim the protections accorded by the First Amendment to those who are in fact deprived of their employment as the consequence of the triumph of spiritual integrity over the need for material sustenance. The Constitution is not properly a vehicle for the redress of hypothetical wrongs. ”

“ Verner, supra, 374 U.S. at 407, 83 S.Ct. at 1795 As in Thomas, there is no evidence in the record here that religiously motivated resignations are so common as to threaten widespread unemployment or serious depletion of the unemployment compensation fund. Although the Commission has a legitimate concern to prevent claimants from fabricating religious reasons for quitting their jobs, that concern alone does not justify a blanket denial of benefits to all persons who claim that their faith precludes them from continuing in their former employment. ”

“ Dotter does not challenge the Academy's refusal to allow him to attend the religious festival, but rather the Commission's refusal to grant him unemployment benefits following his resignation from the Academy. Whether a resigning claimant is temporarily disqualified for unemployment benefits does not depend on the reasonableness or strength of his former employer's interest in maintaining or terminating the employment relationship. ”

“ In the context of the prior history of dealing with similar requests, the Commission and the Tribunal were certainly justified by the evidence in concluding that Dotter had misinterpreted the thrust of the Headmaster's conversation and had construed as mandatory that which the Headmaster meant to be only persuasive. If the Headmaster had in fact decided to discharge Dotter, there was no reason not to tell him so. That would have the maximum persuasive force to discourage him from pursuing the request for time off. ”

“ Particularly in this sensitive area, it is not within the judicial function and judicial competence to inquire whether the petitioner or his fellow worker more correctly perceived the commands of their common faith. Courts are not arbiters of scriptural interpretation. ”

“ It is well established law that one who seeks to challenge the validity of a statute on constitutional grounds may not do so "... on the ground that impliedly it might also be taken as *1375 applying to other persons or other situations in which its application might be unconstitutional." ”