U.S. Supreme Court buoys religious employees who seek accommodations at work | Reuters
By: Andrew Chung (Reuters)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday bolstered the ability of employees to obtain accommodations at work for their religious practices, reviving a lawsuit by an evangelical Christian former mail carrier accusing the Postal Service of discrimination after being disciplined for refusing to show up for work on Sundays.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
June 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday bolstered the ability of employees to obtain accommodations at work for their religious practices, reviving a lawsuit by an evangelical Christian former mail carrier accusing the Postal Service of discrimination after being disciplined for refusing to show up for work on Sundays.The 9-0 ruling threw out a lower court's decision rejecting a claim by Gerald Groff, a former mail carrier in Pennsylvania, that the Postal Service's actions refusing to exempt him from working on Sundays, when he observes the Sabbath, violated federal anti-discrimination law.
The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has a track record of expanding religious rights, often siding with Christian plaintiffs.
The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had found that Groff's absences placed too much of a hardship on his co-workers and employer. The Supreme Court ordered the 3rd Circuit to reconsider the matter.
Groff's case centered on a federal anti-discrimination law called Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and other factors including race, sex and national origin.
Under Title VII, employers must make allowances for a worker's religious observance or practices unless that would cause the business "undue hardship" - which the Supreme Court in a 1977 case called Trans World Airlines …
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Do not agree with this decision.
If some religious people can basically do whatever they want, I wait for the day they start their lawsuits against companies that start refusing to hire them.
This guy was making it harder on everybody that he worked with. I understand that they tried to accommodate him, but it can't always be done. Sounds to me like he used his religion to get out of working on Sundays. Don't like working on Sundays? Get another job
Imo they tried to accommodate him yet it can't always be done. I think he was under the impression that since he got away with it for so long, he should be able to continue.
The problem is that they will demand rights to follow only the religious rules that they want.
The same guy that demands Sundays off for religious reasons cheats on his wife, wears mixed blend fabrics, eats crab, lobster and pork, and shaves off his facial hair daily.
So will people in retail now have to deal with employees that will not work on Sundays?
Sounds like it. No more breakfast on Sunday morning at IHOP
Before I retired we had 2 shifts sometimes 3 shifts a day and there was always work on both Saturday and Sunday. There was almost no way that we could accomodate Saturday or Sunday off for employees.
From what I can see there really is no litmus test for who is religious or not. So people have to rely on the word of others.
I bet a lot of people find Jesus...
I had a couple of installers pull this thumper bullshit on me decades ago, so I switched from first come first served and pick your own route to assigning routes that I had created. pretty soon there was nobody left claiming a religious exemption and we went back to first come first served and pick your own route.
I see some small independent religions forming to take advantage of this ruling
I wonder if this will only apply to Christians. At this time I use vacation days for my Feast days, but if I can get away with not working on those days and not having to burn my vacation days I will be happy.
Being a member of the ''Church of What's Happening Now'' I am overjoyed that I can now get days off with pay.
I am with the church of the Fonz.
Aye...
We get off on Sunday, Monday...Happy days...Tuesday, Wednesday...Happy Days...Thursday, Friday...Happy days...
And Saturday is a day for grooving.
It seems that, according to the SCOTUS, you get all those days.
That deserves a double thumbs up. That is a high honour in our church.
EYYYYYYYYY.......
they have a weed church in the metro area here somewhere...
Well. I certainly hope there are provisions for the 'utterly religious' that on their day of being 'utterly' they have the gawd given right to buy gasoline, go to Walmart or Lowes or whatever. Got to end this 'utterly' religious persecution.