The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard argument in Groff v. DeJoy, No. CV 19-1879, 2021 WL 1264030 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 6, 2021), aff’d, 35 F.4th 162 (3d Cir. 2022), a case dealing with religious accommodations for employees, which may have widespread implications for employers and employees throughout the country. This article provides an overview of the background of this case and a discussion of its potential impact on workplaces.

Background and History of the Case

This case grew out of a request by Gerald Groff, a former mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, not to work on Sundays due to his Christian beliefs. The USPS had entered into a contractual agreement with Amazon that involved making Sunday deliveries. Although initially permitted to be exempt from working on Sundays, the USPS encountered issues among other employees in carrying out this accommodation, including complaints from other employees and increased difficulties in the scheduling process. As such, the USPS required Groff to work on Sundays unless he could find a coworker to cover his shift. Groff ultimately resigned from his employment with the USPS in January 2019.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]