The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a 2 – 1 panel decision, has ruled that an employee’s religious accommodation request to refrain from working on Sundays would impose an undue hardship on one of the nation’s largest employers, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Key to the court’s analysis was the likely impact the requested accommodation would have on a small group of workers – i.e., those who would have to work Sundays to cover the employee’s shift. While the court’s decision is not inconsistent with current Title VII case law, it tees up an issue that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to revisit sometime in the near future: the proper standard for determining when a religious accommodation creates an undue hardship on an employer’s business.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.