Doubletake: Fighting for Sabbath rest

Summary

Doubletake: Fighting for Sabbath Rest

The World and Everything In It podcast, produced by WORLD Radio, delivers a compelling and in-depth exploration of Gerald Groff’s legal battle to observe his Sabbath while fulfilling his duties as a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier. Hosted by Jenny Ruff, this episode titled "Doubletake: Fighting for Sabbath Rest," released on February 8, 2025, delves into the intersection of faith, employment law, and the evolving demands of modern commerce.

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Introduction to Gerald Groff’s Dilemma

The episode opens with Les Sillers introducing the central figure of the story, Gerald Groff, a USPS mail carrier whose commitment to observing Sunday as his Sabbath has put him at odds with his employer following USPS’s partnership with Amazon to provide Sunday deliveries.

Notable Quote:

Les Sillers [00:02]: "When Gerald Groff took his job at the Post office in 2012, keeping the Sabbath wasn't an issue. USPS didn't deliver on Sundays."

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The Rise of Sunday Deliveries

Jenny Ruff provides a backdrop of Amazon’s exponential growth and its impact on delivery services, highlighting how USPS’s agreement with Amazon to offer Sunday deliveries created unforeseen conflicts for employees like Groff who observe Sunday as a day of rest.

Notable Quote:

Jenny Ruff [02:50]: "Delivery by tomorrow. That and about 1.6 million other packages by tomorrow. A typical day for Amazon, even on a Sunday."

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Gerald Groff’s Commitment to Sabbath

Gerald Groff shares his deep-rooted faith and the significance of the Sabbath in his life. Raised in a Mennonite community, Groff describes Sunday worship as essential for honoring God and maintaining his spiritual well-being.

Notable Quote:

Gerald Groff [03:44]: "The Lord's day is saying, I'm taking a breath, taking a beat from regular life and saying, this day I'm setting aside for God... a day of rest."

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The Legal Battle Before the Supreme Court

As USPS began Sunday deliveries, Groff requested accommodations to keep Sundays free of work. When denied, he filed a lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging religious discrimination. The case escalated to the United States Supreme Court, where attorneys debated the interpretation of "undue hardship."

Notable Quotes:

Aaron Street [05:15]: "Employees should not be forced to choose between their faith and their job."

Elizabeth Prelogger [05:36]: "Exempting him from work each and every Sunday would have violated his co-workers' contractual rights at the Post Office."

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Understanding Title VII and Religious Accommodations

Employment law attorney Mark Chumley breaks down Title VII, explaining how it protects employees from religious discrimination by requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations unless it causes undue hardship.

Notable Quotes:

Mark Chumley [10:47]: "Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on any religion."

Mark Chumley [11:16]: "Religion includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief."

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Defining "Undue Hardship"

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the legal definitions surrounding "undue hardship." Historically, the Supreme Court’s 1977 TWA v. Hardison decision set a low bar for what constitutes undue hardship, essentially any burden beyond a trivial or minimal one. However, Groff’s legal team argues for a stricter interpretation akin to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires a significant difficulty or expense.

Notable Quotes:

Aaron Street [24:52]: "Hardison's de minimis test makes a mockery of the English language."

Elizabeth Prelogger [28:58]: "Our basic pitch here is that this is a context-based inquiry that necessarily requires the application of a standard like that to a particular fact pattern."

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Personal Insights and Community Impact

Interviews with individuals like Travis Washington, an Amazon delivery worker, and Dan, a Messianic Jew from Israel, provide diverse perspectives on the importance of Sabbath and the broader societal implications of Sunday deliveries. Groff’s personal history, including the tragic death of his grandfather and his own deep faith, adds a human dimension to the legal narrative.

Notable Quotes:

Dan [17:26]: "He provides your livelihood. I will provide, trust me, every day you will have exactly what you need."

Travis Washington [14:45]: "Do you think we should get a day off?"

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Supreme Court’s Decision and Its Aftermath

The Supreme Court, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, vacated the lower court’s decision, rejecting the Low standard of undue hardship and leaning towards a more substantial interpretation. However, this nuanced decision left Groff’s case unresolved, sending it back for further examination under the clarified standard.

Notable Quotes:

Jenny Ruff [30:34]: "The court said lower courts were wrong to take the de minimis language in the Hardison case as authoritative."

Randall Wenger [31:26]: "We were perfectly happy with a substantial increased cost test."

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Broader Implications for Religious Liberty in the Workplace

The episode concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of the case for religious liberty in the workplace. With over 100 similar cases influenced by this decision, the legal landscape for religious accommodations is shifting. Groff’s attorneys express hope that the decision paves the way for fairer treatment of employees seeking to honor their faith without sacrificing their livelihoods.

Notable Quotes:

Randall Wenger [32:35]: "This is what America should be, that we respect each other enough to let each other carry out our religious conscience, our duties before God."

Aaron Street [33:38]: "American culture and history traditionally had a very strong Sabbath tradition."

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Conclusion

Jenny Ruff wraps up the episode by emphasizing the ongoing nature of Groff’s fight for religious accommodation and the evolving standards that will shape future cases. The story of Gerald Groff serves as a poignant reminder of the delicate balance between personal faith and professional obligations in a rapidly changing world.

Notable Quote:

Jenny Ruff [34:42]: "Our life, our money, our work, and perhaps our ultimate job is to be a good steward of the gifts God has given us."

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Key Takeaways

• Gerald Groff’s Case: A mail carrier’s refusal to work Sundays based on religious convictions sparked a significant legal battle over religious accommodations in the workplace.

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act: Protects employees from religious discrimination, requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations unless they cause undue hardship.

• Legal Standards for Undue Hardship: The Supreme Court’s clarification moves towards a more substantial definition, potentially impacting numerous future cases.

• Impact on Employment and Society: Balancing business efficiency with individual religious freedoms remains a contentious and evolving issue.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Les Sillers [00:02]: "When Gerald Groff took his job at the Post office in 2012, keeping the Sabbath wasn't an issue."

• Gerald Groff [03:44]: "The Lord's day is saying, I'm taking a breath... a day of rest."

• Aaron Street [05:15]: "Employees should not be forced to choose between their faith and their job."

• Mark Chumley [10:47]: "Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on any religion."

• Aaron Street [24:52]: "Hardison's de minimis test makes a mockery of the English language."

• Randall Wenger [32:35]: "This is what America should be, that we respect each other enough to let each other carry out our religious conscience."

• Jenny Ruff [34:42]: "Our life, our money, our work, and perhaps our ultimate job is to be a good steward of the gifts God has given us."

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the podcast episode, highlighting the critical legal, personal, and societal dimensions of Gerald Groff’s quest to uphold his Sabbath observance amidst professional challenges.

Transcript

[Les Sillers]

From World Radio, this is Doubletake. I'm Les Sillers. When Gerald Groff took his job at the Post office in 2012, keeping the Sabbath wasn't an issue. USPS didn't deliver on Sundays. Then about a decade ago, Amazon decided people simply had to have their gadgets and groceries delivered on Sundays and hired USPS to help. Suddenly, Grof had a choice. Keep his job or his convictions. He decided to try. And the case is still not settled. Exactly. Today on Double Take, Jenny Ruff brings us a special legal episode about a mailman, his faith, and the Byzantine legal rules that define religious liberty in this country. Here's Jenny.

[Jenny Ruff]

Alexa, can I order something off of Amazon? I can help you shop for everyday items. Try saying things like, Alexa, order AA batteries or reorder paper towels. Before Amazon was Amazon, it was Cadabra. Abracadabra. Order a book online and poof, it's on your doorstep. But for too many customers, Cadabra wasn't calling magic to mind. It was calling dead bodies to mind cadavers. So founder Jeff Bezos renamed Cadabra after the world's largest river. Amazon.com went live in July 1995. Book sales became CD sales, then tool sales, toy sales. Today, you can order 353 million different products. Practical items like light bulbs or a toothbrush. Impractical items like pink blobfish slippers or a belly button lint brush. Expensive things like $66,000 diamond earrings or at the other extreme, a 99 cent emergency poncho. I'm placing an order specifically for this story. What are you looking for? A set of two ivory taper candles. Set of two cream candles, one inch. You can say buy it now or what are the reviews and an accessory to hold them? Alexa order black taper candle holders. It's $15.99 with delivery by tomorrow. Delivery by tomorrow. That and about 1.6 million other packages by tomorrow. A typical day for Amazon, even on a Sunday. One last request, Alexa. Could I order a linen bread bag? Linen bread bags for homemade bread container, four pieces. All of this ties into our case today, Groff vs. DeJoy. The case came before the United States Supreme Court a couple years ago during its 202223 term. But it's one of those cases worth a deep dive, not only for its legal significance, but for the story that gave rise to it. A story worthy of deeper thinking. Here's what led to the lawsuit. About a decade ago, the US Post Office realized it needed help fulfilling its delivery obligations. So it contracted With Amazon, the deal included Sunday delivery. And for one mail carrier in particular, that caused a problem.

[Gerald Groff]

My name is Gerald Groff. Born and raised in Lancaster, Groff used.

[Jenny Ruff]

To work at the US Post Office in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, south of Lancaster. When he took the job, the post office was closed on Sundays. That suited Groff just fine because he doesn't work that day. Groff is a Christian and observes Sunday Sabbath, a weekly day of rest from work. He says it's his way of honoring God.

[Gerald Groff]

The Lord's day is saying, I'm taking a breath, taking a beat from regular life and saying, this day I'm setting aside for God to say, this is his I'm going to honor so that I kind of center myself to face the rest of the week like this is a holy moment for God, for me to worship him. I mean, it's also a day of rest. It's a day of saying, I am disconnecting from regular life. I am taking a day to rest. And God created us. He made our bodies and he understood that we need a moment to rest and have a break.

[Jenny Ruff]

But after Amazon entered the picture, Grof's practice clashed with his work responsibilities. Groff asked for an accommodation. Sundays off. The Post Office refused. The conflict snowballed into an employment law dispute that ended up before the United states Supreme Court.

[Aaron Street]

Mr. Chief justice, and may it please the court.

[Jenny Ruff]

When oral argument in Groff came before the Supreme Court in April 2023, attorney Aaron street argued on behalf of Gerald Grof. The dispute centered on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. That statute protects employees from being discriminated against on the basis of things like race and religion. Under the law, the Post Office is required to reasonably accommodate Grof's religion, anybody's religion. In other words, the Post Office has to give Grof Sundays off unless by doing so, the Post Office would suffer an undue hardship. Street argued that wasn't the case here.

[Aaron Street]

Employees should not be forced to choose between their faith and their job. The court can and should construe undue hardship. According to its plain text.

[Jenny Ruff]

Elizabeth Prelogger, who served as Solicitor General at the time, argued for the other side, the United States Government. She said Groff's requested accommodation did cause the Post Office to suffer an undue hardship.

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

Petitioner's job specifically required him to work on Sundays. Exempting him from work each and every Sunday would have violated his co workers contractual rights at the Post Office. And his absences created direct concrete burdens on other carriers who had to stay on their shifts longer to get the mail delivered. That is an undue hardship under any reasonable standard.

[Jenny Ruff]

Well, before moving on, let's back up to 2012, when Groh first took the job in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.

[Gerald Groff]

So in the morning, you just take all the mail that came from the distribution center and you put them all up in that case in sequential order from the beginning of your route to the end.

[Jenny Ruff]

The day I met with Grof, he described his old route. And the next morning I drove it myself. I began at the post office on West State Street.

[Gerald Groff]

Take it out to your car and load it. Put all your parcels and whatnot in there and you hit the road and deliver.

[Jenny Ruff]

To hit the road, turn out of the parking lot and take Route 372 west.

[Gerald Groff]

A typical mail route is between 500 to 800 mailboxes.

[Jenny Ruff]

Groff's job title was Rule Carrier Associate, RCA, a part time flexible job. RCAs cover shifts for full time employees. They work on an as needed basis. But the post office was often so strapped for full time employees, it relied heavily on RCAs. Grof sometimes worked as many as six days a week, but on average he worked four. He didn't drive one of those boxy trucks with the eagle logo?

[Gerald Groff]

No, no, I drove my own vehicle. I drove it from the passenger seat with the mail stacked in the driver's seat. I bought a Honda CR V that doesn't have a console in the middle enough that I could get my leg, my left leg across, my right arm across, reach through the steering wheel and flip the turn signal.

[Jenny Ruff]

Lancaster is Amish country. Acres and acres of green fields without machinery or tractors. The Strasburg steam train chuffs, chuffs its way along the railroad. Groff often drove dirt roads to the Amish farms, and sometimes he would give out candy to the Amish children who ran out to greet him. Oh, and he has been bitten by a dog.

[Gerald Groff]

Yes, I did. Twice. Once just got my pant leg and the other time actually hung off my arm for a while. Drew a little blood.

[Jenny Ruff]

In 2015, three years after Groff started his job, the post office began to offer Sunday deliveries under its agreement with Amazon.

[Gerald Groff]

When I started, there was no such thing as Sunday Amazon delivery. I thought it was a safe job.

[Jenny Ruff]

Groff's boss expected him to rotate in some Sundays.

[Gerald Groff]

From the very beginning, I told my postmaster, there's no way I can work on Sunday. As a Christian, I just won't do that. You're gonna have to figure something out. And she never really told me anything.

[Jenny Ruff]

For about a year, Groff's Boss accommodated him. He got Sundays off. Other employees filled in for him. But in the fall of 2016, Groff's boss delivered some bad news. Grof recaps it this way.

[Gerald Groff]

I'm gonna tell you the truth of what happened in the sense that it's not pleasant. You said, I'm not gonna be putting up with your again this year. And so it was kind of like a slap in the face of, wow, okay, it worked pretty good last year. What changed? And so I didn't get into it with her. I just thought, I have to find a way.

[Jenny Ruff]

And he did. Basically, he transferred to the Holtwood post office about 10 miles away. Same job, different location, and they were.

[Gerald Groff]

So small, they only have three routes that they didn't have Amazon delivery on Sundays at that point. So I was actually able to get through the second Christmas, the 2016 Christmas, without having to do Sundays again.

[Jenny Ruff]

But In March of 2017, that post office also began Sunday deliveries. Once again, Grof was told he would need to start working Sundays. Once again, he requested an accommodation. The Post Office tried to compromise by offering Grof a different day off.

[Gerald Groff]

And so having a Sabbath or a Lord's day on Wednesday, well, I would miss church. I would miss the chance to do what I want to do on Sunday. So it wouldn't be the same.

[Jenny Ruff]

Let me quickly add that I did request an interview with the Post Office to hear its side of the story, but it turned me down. When I crossed paths with mail carriers in Lancaster and asked to speak with them, they said they couldn't comment. The American Postal Workers Union, who filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Post Office, also said no. And the National Rule Letter Carriers association didn't respond to my requests. In their own court briefs, the Post Office stated that it struggled to fill Groff's Sunday shifts. At time the Holtwood postmaster himself took on the shift. Groff's superiors took a series of disciplinary actions against him. But eventually, Groff felt his only option was to resign. So he did and filed a lawsuit alleging the Post Office violated Title VII.

[Mark Chumley]

Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 is one of the most well known anti discrimination statutes.

[Jenny Ruff]

Mark Chumley is an employment law attorney and the host of the Practical Employment Law podcast. He didn't work on Grof's case, but he's handled similar cases. He points out that Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on any religion.

[Mark Chumley]

So it could be, you know, it could be a Muslim needing certain days off to observe a festival of some Kind it could be a Jewish employee needing time off to observe the Sabbath.

[Jenny Ruff]

And not only that, Title VII goes.

[Mark Chumley]

On to say that religion includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.

[Jenny Ruff]

But what exactly does that include? Well, typically, when an employee requests an accommodation, that request falls into one of three categories, or buckets. Bucket one, a request to accommodate dress and appearance. For example, A case from 2013 involved a Sikh woman who worked for the IRS. The Sikh religion request its members to wear five articles of faith, including a curpin, a small knife. She lost her job over that. Here's employment law attorney Cholmondeley.

[Mark Chumley]

Again, they were required to carry a ceremonial dagger or knife, and that violated the company's policy against weapons and knives in the workplace. So that would have been a request for an accommodation to allow them to carry that because it was part of their religious observance.

[Jenny Ruff]

That case settled. And today, companies generally do accommodate such requests unless the request would pose a real safety concern. A steel mill employee wants to wear a skirt for religious reasons. Probably not allowed if it raises the risk of getting tangled in the machinery. Bucket two, the employee requests an accommodation to express a religious belief.

[Mark Chumley]

You know, they want to keep a Bible on their desk, or they want to put a certain sign in their work area that has a Bible verse or something, and maybe another employee is somehow offended by that, and you end up with a workplace conflict. And then there's a request for the accommodation to put that in their work area.

[Jenny Ruff]

Again, an employer generally must accommodate the request. But Groff's case didn't involve dress and appearance or expression. His case falls into bucket three, a scheduling accommodation. And this type of request, unlike the others, is no drop in the bucket, because a scheduling accommodation usually means the person misses work.

[Mark Chumley]

And the requested accommodation in this case was having the entire day off on Sundays. I think the employer would have granted sufficient time for the employee to attend church service if he'd been willing to report for at least part of the day on Sunday. Many Christians, I think, would say, hey, I just need to go to church on Sunday. I could come in in the afternoon. You know, all I need is time to go to my church, and then afterwards, time to maybe, you know, change my clothes and get to work. Now, obviously, you have to go with your conscience on these types of issues. And I don't mean to suggest that Mr. Grof is not sincere, but I think that whatever the outcome, it's important for Christians to approach this issue with the correct attitude and remember who you ultimately serve when you're at work and remember that, you know, you need to be a good employee, and we do have an obligation to do that as Christians.

[Jenny Ruff]

So while Groff rested and worshiped on Sundays, other employees filled in for him. Amazon delivered its packages. Speaking of, I got mine too. Oh, the Amazon person. Hi, I'm Jenny. I'm gonna give you the sign. Oh, yeah, sure. The Amazon delivery guy's name was Travis Washington. He was in a huge hurry, racing around to get customers their books or shower curtain rings, or in my case, candles, candle holders, and bread linens. Washington had only been with Amazon for a month, and he does work Sundays. Do you think it's worth it that we live in this society where we can get anything we want and have it delivered, or do you think we should get a day off?

[Gerald Groff]

Yeah. No deliveries on Sunday. Why?

[Travis Washington]

Football.

[Jenny Ruff]

That's football. Watching football, playing football. Both can be honorable things to do over the weekend, as can mowing the lawn or taking your kids to the park. But Title VII doesn't protect the rights of individuals to organize their schedules as they wish. Again, it protects religious beliefs, observance and practice. Taking a day of rest on Sundays, also known as the Lord's Day, is a common practice for some Christians. And to understand why, it helps to know a bit about Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 say, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall not do any work. And many believe that commandment is universal to all mankind because it's rooted in the beginning of time. To learn more about it, I lit my candles and called up some friends in Israel. Anya and her husband Dan live north of Jerusalem with their three little boys. Every Friday evening, the family of five gathers around the dinner table for a meal. They start by lighting two candles before sunset. Dan opens his Bible and he recites blessings as he pours the wine.

[Dan]

My first pages of Genesis are stained with wine because the Bible is always next to the plate. And my grandfather always used to overfill it to let it drip over, so I do the same.

[Jenny Ruff]

Dan reads passages from Genesis.

[Dan]

And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.

[Jenny Ruff]

That rest is the first hint of Sabbath in the Bible.

[Dan]

Okay, the rest is Shabbat. That's where you get the name from. That's not the word we use for it, but it means ceasing from work.

[Jenny Ruff]

Finally, Dan blesses the bread Two loaves of challah.

[Dan]

Blessed are you, O Lord, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. Now we add another blessing to say thank you, God, not only for this bread, but also for the true bread that came down from heaven. Our Messiah, Yeshua.

[Jenny Ruff]

Dan grew up in a Jewish family. Today he's a Christian, or as he prefers to say, a Messianic Jew. He continues some Jewish traditions, like Sabbath. In the Jewish faith, Sabbath begins at sundown Friday nights with a meal and ends sundown Saturday. That's because in Genesis 1, when God established a pattern of six days of work and one day of rest, it's worded this way.

[Dan]

We look at the end of every day of creation. It says, and it was evening and morning. It doesn't say it was morning and evening. They were. Or morning and evening. Day two, it says evening and morning. So the reckoning of days starts from sundown, from the evening. And so the Sabbath is for us, for what you'd call Saturday, we call Shabbat.

[Jenny Ruff]

Christians tend to cease from work on Sunday instead of Saturday because Sunday is the day Christ rose from the dead. So that's the day they gather to worship. With that understanding of where a day of rest came from, let's get back to Gerald Groff. He grew up in the Mennonite faith, and his roots run deep in Lancaster. Oh, have you not heard of that beautiful stream that flows through our father's land?

[Gerald Groff]

My ancestors, the Hans Hur family, has a home here. It's now called the seventh. So I grew up going to Mennonite school and going to, you know, Mennonite church when I was young. Grew up always observing the Sabbath.

[Jenny Ruff]

The Mennonite faith came out of the 16th century Reformation in Europe. Hans Hur was a Swiss immigrant who fled religious persecution, and he settled in Pennsylvania for a reason. Namely because of another man who had done the same.

[Gerald Groff]

William Penn. You know, founded Pennsylvania. He created kind of an experiment, the Holy experiment.

[Jenny Ruff]

Penn was a Quaker who wanted a place for those being persecuted in Europe to start over with a new life of freedom. On my trip to Lancaster, I wandered around the property that once belonged to Grof's ancestors. The museum was closed that day, but I bumped into the executive director, Jean Kelhefer. Hess says the Mennonites view Sabbath as a day to pause and give attention to their faith.

[Travis Washington]

Or even the pause itself just enables us to think about what matters in life and, you know, what Christ calls us to as far as how we engage with each other and with the world, being together. With family and or church community, I think is key.

[Jenny Ruff]

What activities are allowed? Going to church and not allowed work may seem clear, but a lot falls in between that and the permitted activities can vary widely depending on the religious tradition in general.

[Travis Washington]

Mennonites are very earnest Christians, so figuring this out is important.

[Jenny Ruff]

Grof grew up in that earnest faith. When he was 18, his grandfather died a dramatic and unexpected death.

[Gerald Groff]

He was up in a tree and he was trimming his neck, apparently touched the line somehow and he was electrocuted to death on the spot. And my father witnessed that. He was only 63, so it was pretty tough to bear.

[Jenny Ruff]

Grof was just about to graduate from.

[Gerald Groff]

High school, but that was a real turning point in my life. His funeral was so powerful because so many people came to, you know, to pay their respects because he had made such a difference in our community by living his faith. And that's what made motivated me to say, that's the kind of legacy I want to lead the life I want to lead and legacy I want to leave to make a difference for God because I love him.

[Jenny Ruff]

After his grandfather's death, Grof served as a missionary in Africa on and off for years. Eventually, Grof migrated away from the Mennonite tradition and now attends a non denominational Bible church. His Sundays start there at church, and.

[Gerald Groff]

Then you have lunch with your family, and then you spend the afternoon doing something that's not your job. Usually it's just playing a board game, whatever it is you enjoy doing with your family. But the point is to disconnect from your regular six days a week.

[Jenny Ruff]

Ralph's single, never married, and lives close to his parents.

[Gerald Groff]

I watch NASCAR with my dad because for me, that's about spending time with my dad. It's something he enjoys.

[Jenny Ruff]

He'd run an errand on a Sunday.

[Gerald Groff]

If we needed milk, you know, or something. My mom needed that to make mashed potatoes. I think I would grab her a quart of milk. Yeah.

[Jenny Ruff]

But when it comes to paid work, he abstains. That prompted me to ask him this question during our interview. I was reading through some of the briefs and there was like this woman who was filling in for you and her car broke down or something. Is this ringing any bells? Okay, she was filling in for you and her car broke down. And then the postmaster guy was like, okay, I don't have anyone today. So it was like a pain for him. So my question to you is, if you had known that that happened, would you have been like, okay, this is a situation where I'll go in because it was kind of an emergency, or are you just like, there's just no way. There's no circumstances where I'd ever go work on a Sunday.

[Gerald Groff]

For me, my conviction. Is that real that I had to say no, even though I understand the awkwardness of that situation. It's about obeying God for me.

[Jenny Ruff]

I wondered if a car breakdown was the equivalent of an ox falling into a well. The example Christ gave when talking about the trap of legalism. Presumably most Christians, including Grof, would be pretty unhappy if they got into a car accident and then discovered nobody was staffing the hospital emergency room because it's Sunday. And that brings us back to his lawsuit. He lost in lower court and appealed to the Supreme Court. Now, as a reminder, this is a Title VII anti discrimination case in general. Under the statute, the post office must reasonably accommodate Groft's scheduling request to take Sundays off. But there's that exception. Here's Groft's attorney, Randall Wenger.

[Randall Wenger]

You're supposed to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs unless it causes undue hardship.

[Jenny Ruff]

The undue hardship exception, and that's at the heart of the lawsuit. What qualifies as undue hardship? The Supreme Court had tried to answer that question once before, decades ago.

[Randall Wenger]

There was a 1977 case, TWA v. Hardison, where the Supreme Court said, well, anything more than a de minimis burden is an undue hardship, meaning all that's.

[Jenny Ruff]

Required for an employer to prove it would suffer an undue hardship is. Is to show it would endure a smidge more than a de minimis burden, a trifling inconvenience.

[Randall Wenger]

That doesn't sound to me like a good interpretation of the statutory language.

[Jenny Ruff]

Undue hardship, de minimis burden. They do seem to be on opposite ends of a spectrum. Ever since the 1977 Hardison decision, there's.

[Randall Wenger]

Been talk about how do we fix this and go back to the standard that we're supposed to have, be able to go back to the standard that was originally intended by Congress.

[Jenny Ruff]

At oral argument, Aaron Street, Grof's other attorney, pointed out that nobody seriously argues that de minimis is the correct standard.

[Aaron Street]

Hardison's de minimis test makes a mockery of the English language, and no party truly defends it today.

[Jenny Ruff]

It's true. Even the post Office agreed the de minimis test cannot stand alone. When Prelogger argued for the government, Justice Neil Gorsuch confirmed that that de minimis can't be the test in isolation, at least because Congress doesn't pass civil rights legislation to have de minimis effect. Right. We don't think of the civil rights laws as trifling, which is the definition of de minimis. The law says, since time immemorial, you know, that the law does not concern itself with trifles. So is that common ground as well?

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

Yes, it is common ground. You shouldn't.

[Jenny Ruff]

So if both parties agree that on its face, undue burden doesn't square up with the minimus or trifling, what does undue burden mean? Here the parties could not find common ground. They argued for different tests. Grof's lawyer, street, said the Supreme Court should adopt the exact same understanding of undue hardship already at play in another anti discrimination statute, the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA says an undue hardship means a significant difficulty or expense. That's what employers would have to prove to deny an accommodation. Street went on to say that some lower courts have already transplanted the ADA test to Title VII cases.

[Aaron Street]

That's why we like the significant difficulty or expense test, because you have New York and California and other states already applying that test for religious accommodations. There's case law out there. It's workable.

[Jenny Ruff]

Street also pointed out that not using the same test for both the ADA and Title VII would result in nonsensical outcomes.

[Aaron Street]

Thus, under the government's test, a diabetic employee could receive snack breaks under the ada, but not prayer breaks. Under Title vii, an employee could receive weekly leave for pregnancy checkups, but not to attend Mass.

[Jenny Ruff]

But Chief Justice John Roberts had a concern. Government employees have a wide and diverse array of religious backgrounds. So he wondered if government employers would receive a lot more requests for religious accommodations under Title VII than a disability accommodation under the ada. There are differences between ADA cases, US ERA cases, pregnancy Work act cases. They apply to a fairly discreet category of individuals. Title VII obviously has a broader scope. Attorney Andrew Hessick filed a friend of the Court brief in support of the Post Office that made that very point. Hesic filed the brief on behalf of three organizations that consist of local, city and municipal governments. Local governments tend to have a fair number of religious employees.

[Travis Washington]

Studies suggest it's about one and a half times more religious. I don't know exactly why, but it does suggest there's just a high correlation between being religious and being a local government employee. And so there's going to be more occasions where there could be a potential conflict between the requirements of the job and religious practices.

[Jenny Ruff]

Lots of different faiths, and there's just.

[Travis Washington]

A huge variety of different religious practices. They come in so many different forms and so accordingly, there are also a huge variety of different requests for accommodation.

[Jenny Ruff]

Remember the three buckets? Dress and appearance requests like the curpin expression requests like posting a Bible verse and scheduling requests like time off for Sabbath. And if a court made it easier for employees to get all sorts of requests, it would lead to higher costs for the employer.

[Travis Washington]

If they have to provide more accommodations, they have to build it into their cost structures and it could affect the services that they provide.

[Jenny Ruff]

But if the court agreed and did not adopt the ADA's significant difficulty and expense test, what language should it use to define undue burden? How about looking to the eeoc, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? That's what government attorney Prelogar argued. Keep the de minimis test, but apply it using the EEOC's regulations and guidance.

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

Our basic pitch here is that this is a context based inquiry that necessarily requires the application of a standard like that to a particular fact pattern.

[Jenny Ruff]

She insisted the lower court here properly applied the law.

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

If you look at the 3rd Circuit's decision, the court carefully parsed the evidence in the case.

[Jenny Ruff]

She went on to say that the burden on the post office wasn't only financial. Groft's request caused discord among other employees, and that's burdensome too.

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

People quitting, people transferring. There was a threatened boycott on one Sunday and union grievance filed.

[Jenny Ruff]

But just as Samuel Alito had a hard time believing lower courts have got this right.

[Dan]

We have amicus briefs here by many representatives of many minority religions. Muslims, Hindus, Orthodox Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, and they all say that partisan has.

[Jenny Ruff]

Violated their right to religious liberty.

[Dan]

Are they wrong?

[Jenny Ruff]

Justice Brett Kavanaugh honed in on a footnote in the Hardison decision. The footnote expanded on the best way to define undue hardship in Title VII employment cases.

[Travis Washington]

I think Hardison has to be interpreted in light of footnote 14, which talks about not de minimis costs, but substantial expenditures or substantial additional costs to adopt. So if we just say substantial Costs, read footnote 14, substantial costs go fourth courts.

[Jenny Ruff]

In the end, that's exactly what the court did. Justice Alito wrote the opinion, not Kavanaugh. But it was unanimous. The court said lower courts were wrong to take the de minimis language in the Hardison case as authoritative. Instead, it held that Hardison's additional language in footnote 14 of substantial costs and expenditures is the correct standard. So when all was said and done, the court issued its opinion in favor of. Well, it's hard to say the court didn't adopt the ADA language. Grof wanted so in that sense, he lost. But the court vacated the lower court's decision, siding with the Post Office. It sent the case back so it could be looked at in light of the clarifying standard. After the court issued its opinion, I talked with Grof's lawyer, Aaron Street. He said that even though the Court rejected the ADA's significant difficulty or expense.

[Aaron Street]

Test, we were perfectly happy with a substantial increased cost tests. We view that to be essentially the same thing. The reason we shied away from using that language is because the Solicitor General who was defending the Postal Service interpreted that language to mean something that doesn't sound like substantial cost to us. We disagreed with the Solicitor General about how that test should be applied, and we're glad the Supreme Court wiped out that understanding of Hardison.

[Jenny Ruff]

More recently, I also talked with Grofs attorney, Randall Wenger. He says as of the new year 2025, Grof is still awaiting a trial date.

[Randall Wenger]

The Post Office is still taking the position they didn't do anything wrong. Yes, the standard has changed insofar as the de minimis standard is gone, but it just gets rid of a misleading term. And that's not right. That's not what we fought for. And they still feel justified in what they did. So if you liken it to Scripture, I think about Pharaoh's Heart is still.

[Jenny Ruff]

Hard, but the decision is alive and well elsewhere. It's helping HR departments across the country, helping them rethink how to better accommodate Americans living out their faith.

[Randall Wenger]

So the effect of the decision has been great. We've seen it used in over 100 cases in the past year. And I just think I walk often into our state capitol and I read Penn's words about Pennsylvania becoming a holy experiment in religious liberty to become the seed of a nation. And I look at the outcome of this like this. This is what America should be, that we respect each other enough to let each other carry out our religious conscience, our duties before God. That's what we ought to do. And so it seems like the experiment is alive and well, even if the Post Office didn't get the memo yet.

[Jenny Ruff]

Both Wenger and Street said it was an honor to represent Grof. Here's Street.

[Aaron Street]

I have been inspired by Gerald's example and his sincerity and his faithfulness. I think American culture and history traditionally had a very strong Sabbath tradition. And whether it's Sunday, Saturday, or whatever day of the week you may observe it, it certainly should be a day we spend with our families and try to spend in fellowship with believers and worshiping the Lord.

[Jenny Ruff]

Dan, the messianic Jew from Israel, said, it's easy to shift away from that, whether it's American culture today or the children of Israel looking for manna in the desert on the day God told them not to. People strive to be self sufficient.

[Dan]

You know, we have this term even in English, bread winning. Winning the bread is. This is supplying the house with its livelihood.

[Jenny Ruff]

But the truth is, all we have is from God. Our life, our money, our work, and perhaps our ultimate job is to be a good steward of the gifts God has given us. And that means trusting his instruction.

[Dan]

He says, I provide your livelihood. I will provide, trust me, every day you will have exactly what you need. And he says, on Friday, I will provide twice as much as you need. Trust me, you can take that day to rest. You don't have to work more to provide for yourself. God rested and we should at least emulate him. If he could afford to rest, we could afford to rest.

[Jenny Ruff]

For World Radio, I'm Jenny Ruff. I reported and wrote this story. Nick Eicher edited it along with Paul Butler, who also produced it. Special thanks to Gerald Groff, Mark Chumley, Travis Washington, Dan and Anya, Gene Kelhefer Hess, Randall Wenger, Andrew Hessick and Aaron Street.

[Elizabeth Prelogger]

SA.