Showing posts with label Sabbath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sabbath. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

EEOC Sues IHOP Restaurant for Failing to Accommodate Cook's Religious Beliefs

The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed a Title VII religious discrimination suit in a North Carolina federal district court against a Charlotte, North Carolina IHOP restaurant operated by Suncakes, LLC.  The EEOC charged that the restaurant failed to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious exercise:

... Suncakes hired a cook ... in January 2021. At the time of hire, the employee requested and was granted a religious accommodation of not working on Sundays to honor his religious observances. After a change in management in April 2021, the new general manager expressed hostility toward the accommodation and required the employee to work on Sunday, April 25 and Sunday, May 9. After the May 9 shift, the employee told the general manager he would not be working the following Sunday. The general manager refused to allow the employee to work his next scheduled shift and fired him. The manager then made comments to other employees such as, “religion should not take precedence over [the employee’s] job”” and that the employee “thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills.”

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today In Title VII Religious Accommodation Case

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in Groff v. DeJoy, an important religious liberty case testing the extent to which Title VII requires accommodation of employees' religious practices. In the case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that accommodating a Sunday sabbath observer by allowing him not to report for work on Sunday would cause an "undue hardship" to the U.S. Postal Service.  Thus, failure to grant that accommodation did not violate Title VII. (See prior posting.) In the case, petitioners are asking the Supreme Court to revisit and reject the "more than de minimis" test for "undue hardship" announced in TWA v. Hardison. SCOTUSblog has a Case Preview with more details on the parties' arguments. The SCOTUSblog Case Page has links to the filings by the parties as well as to the more than 50 amicus briefs that have been filed. The arguments will be streamed live from the Supreme Court today at 10:00 AM here. The transcript and audio of the full oral arguments will be available later today here on the Supreme Court's website.

Saturday, January 14, 2023

Cert. Granted To Review Title VII "Undue Hardship" Test For Religious Accommodation

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday granted review in Groff v. DeJoy, (Docket No. 22-174, certiorari granted, 1/13/2023). (Order list). In the case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that accommodating a Sunday sabbath observer by allowing him not to report for work on Sunday would cause an "undue hardship" to the U.S. Postal Service.  Thus, failure to grant that accommodation did not violate Title VII. (See prior posting.)In the case, petitioners are asking the Supreme Court to revisit and reject the test for "undue hardship" announced in TWA v. Hardison. (cert. petition). Here is SCOTUSblog's case page for the case.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Alabama High School Athletic Association Changes Rules To Accommodate Sabbath Observance

1819 News reports that yesterday the Alabama High School Athletic Association voted to amend its rules to accommodate religious requests for scheduling changes. The rule change comes in response to a lawsuit filed in May by Oakwood Adventist Academy after it was forced to forfeit a Saturday afternoon 1A high school playoff game that conflicted with its Sabbath observance. Becket issued a press release announcing the rule change.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Postal Worker Seeks Supreme Court Modification Of Title VII Precedents On Reasonable Accommodation

A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy. In the case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that accommodating a Sunday sabbath observer by allowing him not to report for work on Sunday would cause an "undue hardship" to the U.S. Postal Service.  Thus, failure to grant that accommodation did not violate Title VII. (See prior posting.) Appellants are asking the Supreme Court to repudiate the definition of "undue hardship" which the Court approved in its 1977 decision in TWA v. Hardison. First Liberty issued a press release announcing the filing of the petition for review.

Friday, May 27, 2022

3rd Circuit: Accommodation Of Sabbath Observer Would Create Undue Hardship For Postal Service

In Groff v. DeJoy, (3d Cir., May 25, 2022), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that accommodating a Sunday sabbath observer by allowing him not to report for work on Sunday would cause an "undue hardship" to the U.S. Postal Service.  Thus, failure to grant that accommodation did not violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In reaching that conclusion, the court agreed with those circuits that interpret "reasonable accommodation" under Title VII to mean an accommodation that totally eliminates the conflict between job requirements and religious practice. Judge Hardiman, dissenting, said that USPS had not satisfied its burden at the summary judgment stage to prove undue hardship, though it might be able to do so with more facts at trial. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

New Rules For Federal Workers' Comp Time To Make Up For Religious Observance

This month's issue of the Justice Department's publication Religious Freedom in Focus calls attention to rules adopted last month by the Office of Personnel Management allowing federal employees to earn compensatory time in order to take off from work on their religious days of rest.  The new rules, which implement 5 USC § 5550a, clarify prior more skeletal provisions that were previously in force. (Full text of Rules effective May 29, 2019).

Friday, November 16, 2018

Employer's Proposed Religious Accommodations Were Adequate

In Miller v. Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, (D NJ, Nov. 13, 2018), a New Jersey federal district court held that the religious accommodations offered to a newly-hired Jewish employee (shift swapping or use of vacation or comp time) were reasonable and the employee's preferred accommodation of his Sabbath observance did not need to be offered. The court said in part:
The employees in Miller’s unit are unionized, and as a result, Port Authority is bound by a collective bargaining agreement. Creating a permanent shift schedule for Miller exempting him from work on the Sabbath or the Jewish holidays, without first offering that option to more senior employees, would have violated the agreement’s seniority provision. It also would have violated the past-practices provision of the agreement, which requires that the established rotational schedule be maintained. In short, Miller’s preferred accommodation would have placed Port Authority in violation of its collective bargaining agreement and required other, more senior employees to work less desirable additional Friday evening and Saturday shifts.
On this record, the religious accommodation offered by Port Authority was reasonable. And because the blanket exemption proposed by Miller would have imposed more than a de minimis hardship, the employer was not required to accept it.
[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

Thursday, August 16, 2018

No Standing To Assert Jewish Tenant's Free Exercise Objection To Saturday Eviction

Hurley v. Town of Southampton, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137089 (ED NY, Aug. 13, 2018) involves various claims by the owner of a rental property stemming from his prosecution for violating Southampton's transient rental law. In the case, a federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing for lack of standing the owner's assertion that the free exercise rights of one of his tenants were violated when he was evicted by Code Enforcement officials. Plaintiff claimed that the Saturday eviction of the tenant and his children forced the tenant, an Orthodox Jew, to drive his car on the Sabbath in violation of his religious beliefs.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Israel's High Court Upholds Local Law Allowing Supermarkets To Open on Sabbath

According to the Jerusalem Post, in Israel yesterday an expanded panel of the country's High Court of Justice upheld a Tel Aviv municipal bylaw that allows 165 large supermarkets to remain open on the Sabbath. Small stores which must close because of the Law for Hours of Work and Rest, which prohibits requiring employees to work on their day of rest, argued that the Tel Aviv ordinance created unfair competition. Orthodox Jewish lawmakers say they will introduce legislation in the Knesset to overrule the decision. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Free Exercise Objections To Forced Hospital Admission on Sabbath Are Dismissed

In Davenport v. Pottstown Hospital Company, LLC, (ED PA, Oct. 6, 2017), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed on various grounds the free exercise claims in a lawsuit by a Jewish plaintiff who on his Sabbath, in violation of his religious beliefs, was transported to a hospital by vehicle and coerced into signing voluntary commitment documents.  Also at the hospital his request for Passover kosher meals was ignored. Some of the defendants were dismissed on qualified immunity grounds; others were dismissed on state actor and other grounds.  Plaintiff was permitted to move ahead on his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

NY Court Invalidates Service of Process on Sabbath, Focusing On Competing Sabbath Times

New York General Business Law Sec. 13 provides:
Whoever maliciously procures any process in a civil action to be served on Saturday, upon any person who keeps Saturday as holy time, and does not labor on that day, or serves upon him any process returnable on that day, or maliciously procures any civil action to which such person is a party to be adjourned to that day for trial, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
In Signature Bank NA v. Koschitzki, (NY Kings Cty. Sup. Ct., July 27, 2017), a New York state trial court vacated a default judgment against Sabbath observant Jews who were served before the end of the Sabbath on a Saturday afternoon.  Defendants were served at 5:30 pm on November 26, 2016. There are two methods used by Jews to determine when the Sabbath ends.  One method would have resulted in Sabbath ending at 5:15. The other method, relied upon by defendants, would have ended the Sabbath at 5:43. The court said:
The Court understands that there is disagreement as to the time at which Sabbath ends among different groups of observant Jews. This Court does not believe it would be appropriate for it to determine the manner in which religious custom should be observed by any individual group or require that one particular group's traditions be adhered to uniformly. The time asserted by defendants is not unreasonable given the conflicting opinions contained in different religious sources.
Arutz Sheva reporting on the decision has more details on the two computational methods.