Supreme Court Strengthens Religious Rights in Postal Worker Case
- Businesses must prove ‘undue hardship’ to avoid accommodations
- Justices decide unanimously to return case to lower court
The justices in a unanimous decision said that under a federal job-discrimination law, employers may have to bear some costs to accommodate the religious needs of workers.
Photographer: Al Drago/BloombergThe US Supreme Court buttressed the religious rights of workers, telling a lower court to take a fresh look at the case of a Pennsylvania postal carrier who says he was forced out of his job for refusing to work on Sundays.
The justices in a unanimous decision said that under a federal job-discrimination law, employers may have to bear some costs to accommodate the religious needs of workers. The consensus said lower courts have misinterpreted a 1977 decision and should require employers to prove their business would endure “substantial” challenges if they accommodated religious workers.