Supreme Court Sides With Christian Mail Carrier in Pennsylvania

An evangelical mail carrier complained that the U.S. Post Office did not do enough to accommodate his request to have off on Sunday

Photo byYannick PulveronUnsplash

The U.S. Supreme Court set a precedent for religious employees looking for work accommodations based on their religion. This ruling will make it easier for religious employees to seek reprieve from work demands that they may feel compromise their religious beliefs.

The case involves a claim brought by a Pennsylvania man, Gerald Groff, who says the U.S. Postal Service could have granted his request that he be spared Sunday shifts based on his religious belief that it is a day of worship and rest.

"I hope this decision allows others to be able to maintain their convictions without living in fear of losing their jobs because of what they believe," Groff said in a statement Thursday.

The case will now return to the lower courts to further litigate whether he prevails under the new standard.

In a statement, Postal Service spokeswoman Felicia Lott called the ruling "fully consistent with the standard we apply when seeking to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices of our employees." As such, she added, the Postal Service expects to ultimately win the case.

Groff had complained that it was too difficult for employees to make religious claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination, including by religious means.

In a unanimous ruling written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, the justices clarified a 1977 Supreme Court ruling called Trans World Airlines v. Hardison. The court said then that employers are not required to make accommodations if they would impose even a minimal or, using the Latin term preferred by the court, “de minimis,” burden.

The court ruled that the hardship on the employer needs to be more than minimal. In the future, courts "should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context of an employer's business in the commonsense manner that it would use in applying any such test," Alito wrote.

Groff worked as an auxiliary mailman from 2012-2019 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania until he resigned over the issue of working on Sundays. His job was filling in when other mail carriers were sick or unavailable. This included weekends and holidays.

In the beginning, Groff was not asked to work on Sundays. However, that changed when the USPS struck a deal to work with Amazon to help deliver packages.

Based on his request for an accommodation, his managers arranged for other postal workers to deliver packages on Sundays until July 2018. After that, Groff faced disciplinary action if he did not report to work.

Groff resigned and sued the Postal Service for failing to accommodate his request. A federal judge said that the Postal Service had provided a reasonable accommodation and that offering anything more than that would cause undue hardship to the employer and Groff's co-workers. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in a ruling in May 2022.

Groups representing Christians and other religions filed briefs to support Groff's case, including the American Hindu Coalition, the American Sikh Coalition, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The American Postal Workers Union, which boasts about 200,000 members, pointed out to the court that ruling in favor of Groff would create a "religious preference" at work that would disadvantage those who don't follow any particular religion.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which advocates for keeping religion out of government and filed a court brief backing the employer, expressed relief that the ruling did not go further.