SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Workplace Religious Accommodations

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of a former postal carrier who was forced to quit his job at the U.S. Postal Service for not working on Sundays, which he considers to be a day of worship and rest where work is prohibited, according to his Christian faith.

The High Court also overruled its previous 1977 “undue burden” de minimis standard from Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison and stated that it clearly imposes unique – and unlawful – burdens on religious discrimination claimants. In fact, the High Court ruled that “an employer must show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”

The questions presented in Gerald Groff v. Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General, United States Postal Service were:

1. Whether the High Court should disapprove the more-than-de-minimis-cost test for refusing Title VII religious accommodations stated in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison;

2. Whether an employer may demonstrate “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business” under Title VII merely by showing that the requested accommodation burdens the employee’s co-workers rather than the business itself.