U.S. Postal Service Has No Duty To Accommodate Sabbath Observer By Giving Him Time Off Every Saturday

  Tepper v. Potter, ___F. 3d ___(6th Cir. Oct. 15, 2007), is an interesting religious discrimination case brought under Title VII. A religious Jewish letter carrier was found to have not made out a claim for failure to accommodate his religious requirement to observe the Sabbath on Saturday nor a claim of of religious discrimination based upon the Post Office's decision to terminate its 10 year practice of not requiring the plaintiff to work on Saturdays.

The court reasoned that the employee did not establish that he suffered discipline or discharge because he was only forced to take days off without pay in order to avoid working on Saturdays. The court viewed work on Saturdays simply as a requirement of the job for which the plaintiff was hired.

This decision was poorly written and may not have been correctly decided. Title VII does not just protect against unlawful discharge or discipline. It also makes it unlawful to other wise discriminate with respect to compensation and terms and conditions of employment. The court also seemed to confuse the concept of an adverse employment action with discipline.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein