The Supreme Court used the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, mailman case to strengthen protections for religious accommodation

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday used the case of a Christian postman from rural Pennsylvania who did not want to work on Sundays to strengthen protections for workers requesting religious accommodations.

In a unanimous decision, the judges explained that workers who request accommodations, such as Sabbath leave, must have them unless their employer demonstrates that doing so would result in a “substantial increase in costs” to the business.

The court made it clear that businesses must charge more than a small fee – a so-called “de minimis” fee – for refusing a request for religious accommodation at work. Unlike most court cases, both parties to the case agreed that the business needed to show more.

The case before the court involved a letter carrier in Lancaster County. The man was told that as part of his job, he had to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. He refused, saying that Sunday was for church and family. US Postal Service officials initially tried to get a replacement for the man's shift, but they weren't always able to accommodate him. When he doesn't show up, it means more work for other people. Eventually, the man quit and sued for religious discrimination.

The case is the latest religious confrontation the high court has asked to referee. In recent years, the court's 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to religious plaintiffs' concerns. Last year, courts divided ideological lines in deciding which public high school football coaches wished to pray on the field after games.

Other recent religious cases have drawn widespread agreement among judges, such as upholding a cruciform monument in a public place and ruling that Boston violated a conservative activist's right to free speech when it refused his request to raise a Christian flag in the City. hall flagpole.