SCOTUS Takes Case of Christian Postal Carrier Who Lost USPS Job for Not Working Sundays

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has agreed to take a major religious liberty case involving a United States Postal Service (USPS) carrier whose request to not participate in Sunday deliveries was denied.

Gerald Groff, a Christian, had worked as a USPS carrier since 2012, when his local post office began Sunday deliveries for Amazon in 2015.  USPS initially granted his request to not work on Sundays by transferring him to another branch.  But when that branch, too, implemented Sunday delivery, Groff was told he must work Sundays.  Facing termination for refusing to work Sundays, he resigned and sued USPS.

Last week, the SCOTUS announced it would take up the case Groff v DeJoy.  In their request to the SCOTUS, Groff's attorneys say USPS violated the text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination by employers.  The law says religion includes “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”

Groff is represented by First Liberty Institute, the Church State Council, the Independence Law Center and Baker Botts LLP.  “Observing the Sabbath day is critical to many faiths – a day ordained by God.  No one should be forced to violate the Sabbath to hold a job,” said Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center.

Groff’s attorneys are asking the SCOTUS to overturn its 1977 decision Trans World Airlines, Inc. v Hardison, which narrowed the scope of Title VII.  That ruling said employers should not be required to “bear more than a de minimis cost” when accommodating religious freedom requests.

Groff lost at the district court and appeals court.  “It is unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees on the basis of religion,” said Kelly Shackelford, president and chief counsel for First Liberty.  “It’s time for the Supreme Court to reconsider a decades-old case that favors corporations and the government over the religious rights of employees.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel