The case concerns an evangelical Christian who claimed the U.S. Postal Service did not do enough to accommodate his request not to work on Sundays.

The Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for employees to seek religious accommodations in a case involving a lawsuit brought by an evangelical Christian mail carrier who asked not to work on Sundays.

The case involved 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.

His case will now return to lower courts for further litigation.

  • MisanthropicScott@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I actually agree with this decision. We can’t force people to leave religion. And, in a secular society, reasonable accommodations can be made. In New York, it has long been common for religious Jews to leave the office earlier on Fridays and not work Saturdays. My mother needed home health aides 24x7 toward the end of her life. The ones who worked Sunday were always Seventh Day Adventists.

    I don’t have a problem with this.

    As a tangent, I do have a problem with people taking jobs that are wholly or partly against their religion. So, for example, pharmacists who are not willing to fill all prescriptions should choose another line of work. If you don’t agree with birth control or medical abortions, don’t take birth control or have a medical abortion.

    But, if you’re not willing to fill a prescription for someone else, you need another job.

    Taken to extremes, I can imagine a pharmacist refusing to fill my insulin prescription because they believe in the power of crystals and want to sell me a lump of quartz. I know it’s reductio ad absurdum. But, is it really any different ethically?

    • afraid_of_zombies2@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I have a problem with this. This particular case reasonable accommodation wasn’t possible. He was hired on to work the weekends. This wasn’t him not able to go above and beyond this was him not willing to do what he was explicitly hired to do. If he had been hired to work mon-fri and didnt want to work Sundays that would be one thing, but he was hired specifically to work Sundays.

      I once had a coworker who was a diehard Christian we did a fair amount of weekend work. I took Sundays and it wasn’t a big deal and I never made it one because why should I? The thing is our normal shift was mon-fri.