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WASHINGTON, June 29 (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday cites the example of a Christian postman who was reluctant to work on Sunday, bolstering protections for workers who request religious accommodations.
In a unanimous decision, the justices made it clear that workers who require accommodation, such as resting on the Sabbath, should get their approval unless their employer shows that doing so would result in “significantly increased costs” for the business.
The court made clear that businesses must cite additional small costs (so-called “minimum” costs) to deny religious accommodation requests at work. Unlike most cases before the courts, both parties in this case agree that companies need to show more information.
The court case involved a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told he needed to start delivering Amazon packages on Sunday as part of his job. He declined, saying his Sundays were for church and family.
U.S. Postal Service officials initially tried to find a replacement to fill the man’s shift, but they weren’t always able to accommodate him. When he doesn’t show up, it means more work for others. Ultimately, the man resigned and sued for religious discrimination.
The case is the latest religious confrontation case the high court has been asked to hear. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to the concerns of religious plaintiffs in recent years. The ideological divide emerged last year when a court ruled that public high school football coaches wanted to pray on the field after games.
Justices have broadly agreed on other recent religious cases, such as upholding crucifix-shaped monuments in public spaces and ruling that Boston violated a conservative activist’s free speech rights when the city rejected his bid to fly a Christian flag over the city. Ask for hall flagpoles. (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a syndicated news feed, the latest staff may not have revised or edited the body of content)
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