The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
The conflict started with an Amazon contract.
Before it, Gerald Groff had been happy with his work as a rural mail carrier and happy to be able to have Sundays off. After it, he still enjoyed the work, but he faced increasing pressure to take shifts on his Sabbath and thereby violate his religious beliefs.
Groff, who identifies as an evangelical Christian, initially solved the problem by transferring to an even more rural post office, one that didn’t yet need to deliver on Sundays. But Amazon’s demands eventually found him there, and he ultimately resigned from his position after a sustained battle with supervisors over his religious accommodation request.
Soon after he left the job, Groff filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service. He alleged unlawful religious discrimination, arguing that his supervisors could have and should have done more to accommodate his Sabbath-related beliefs.
“It was all working out until the post office decided it wasn’t going to work out anymore,” said Hiram Sasser, who is executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute and part of Groff’s legal team.
On Tuesday, Groff’s case will be in front of the Supreme Court, where it could become the vehicle through which the justices redefine what employers owe to religious workers.
Groff and his supporters hope the court will restore the balance between workers’ rights and employers’ rights, a balance they feel was lost in a decision handed down nearly 50 years ago.
But others worry a ruling for Groff could go too far and show so much deference to religious workers that other employees will be harmed.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.