Employers can no longer easily deny religious accommodations

The Supreme Court states that employers with more than 15 employees must demonstrate "substantial increased costs" before denying a religious accommodation.

Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Groff v. DeJoy to clarify that an employer has to demonstrate an "undue hardship" before denying a religious accommodation which is significantly more than "more than a de minimis cost." 

I wanted to write about this ruling as a follow-up since I wrote about this case in April for paid subscribers. 

The case involves Gerald Groff, a former United States Postal Service employee, who, as an evangelical Christian, declined to work on Sundays. The U.S. Postal Service doesn't carry mail on Sundays but after Groff was hired contracted with Amazon and UPS to deliver parcels on Sundays. Groff offered to work extra shifts but continued to be scheduled on Sundays while his postmaster sought volunteers to take his Sunday shifts. 

Groff, who eventually resigned after being disciplined for not showing up for his Sunday shifts, argues that USPS failed to reasonably accommodate his religion violating Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination against employees based on their religion.

Title VII requires employers with 15 employees or more to provide a religious accommodation unless it can demonstrate an “undue hardship.”

I pointed out the problem lies with a 1977 Supreme Court decision in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison that interpreted "undue hardship " that gave employers cause to deny a religious accommodation as an employer bearing "more than a de minimis cost" which is next to nothing. So, essentially, employers had an out and Title VII does not provide religious employees much protection.