What do companies owe to employees who observe the Sabbath?
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider that question by taking up a case brought by an evangelical Christian who resigned from the U.S. Postal Service after facing pressure to work on Sunday.
Gerald Groff’s troubles with USPS began in 2013, when the Postal Service signed a contract to deliver Amazon packages. The contract made Sunday deliveries much more common, complicating Groff’s efforts to spend his Sabbath away from work.
For several years, Groff was still able to avoid Sunday shifts. First, he transferred to a post office that did not yet do Sunday deliveries. Then, when they started doing them, he agreed to take extra shifts during the week to make up for his weekend absence.
Eventually, the situation became unsustainable and Groff’s bosses said further accommodations were not possible. “Facing termination, Groff chose to resign, and sued USPS in federal court for refusing to accommodate his religious beliefs and practices under Title VII,” SCOTUSblog reported in its overview of the case.
Title VII, which is part of the Civil Rights Act, outlaws faith-based discrimination in the workplace. It also mandates that employers accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs, so long as requested accommodations do not place an “undue hardship” on the business.
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