
Swap Agrawal is a student at Harvard Law School.
In this weekend’s news and commentary, the Supreme Court agrees to hear a workplace religious accommodation case and the GOP attempts to eliminate House staffer unions.
On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert to an appeal from Gerald Groff, a former mail carrier who is accusing the U.S. Postal Service of religious bias for refusing to exempt him from working on Sundays. Groff is an evangelical Christian who observes the Sabbath, and he repeatedly did not show up for Sunday shifts assigned as part of the Postal Service’s contract to deliver packages for Amazon.com. Groff received several disciplinary letters and resigned in 2019. He is arguing that the Postal Service’s actions constitute employment discrimination on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In a 1977 case called Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, the Court interpreted Title VII to require employers to reasonably accommodate a worker’s religious practices unless that would cause the business “undue hardship,” defined as anything that requires the employer to bear more than a de minimis cost. Following Trans World Airlines, the Third Circuit found that exempting Groff from working on Sundays would cause undue hardship and dismissed the claim. Groff is now asking the Supreme Court to revisit the 1977 case under which courts “virtually always side with employers whenever an accommodation would impose any burden.” When the Court declined to hear similar cases in 2021, Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito indicated in dissents that Trans World Airlines should be overruled.
On January 9, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a rules package following the long fight over who would be Speaker. This package includes a rule aimed at kneecapping House staff unions. In July 2022, Travis reported that staffers began filing to unionize with the Congressional Workers Union (CWU) after House Democrats adopted regulations promulgated by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) allowing offices to unionize. The GOP rules package calls on OCWR to stop implementing the regulations adopted by Democrats last year. Although the impact of the rule change is still unclear, it is unlikely that the language would decertify the bargaining units that have already been recognized in the House. However, the rules could potentially allow OCWR to ignore any new unionization efforts. The CWU has stated that they plan to continue unionization efforts regardless. “It’s our understanding that this doesn’t have any effect on our current organizing or future organizing activities,” said Taylor Doggett, a spokesperson for CWU.
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January 27
Judge rules firing of Whole Foods workers for wearing BLM masks legal; judge stands by order enforcing subpoenas against Starbucks Workers United; Fourth Circuit skeptical of UPS worker's ADA accommodation claim.
January 26
CA law to improve wages and conditions for fast food workers faces a ballot referendum; OK meat processing workers reeling after a coworker is killed by police onsite; Democrats and advocates urge stronger child labor protection; new report on wage theft
January 25
In today’s news and commentary, Biden renominates his pick for head of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division; Walmart announces wage hike; Sanders plans Starbucks hearings as incoming chairman of the Senate HELP Committee; organizing efforts continue in the gaming industry; Amazon fires another union activist; and Harvard Law School launches the Center for Labor […]
January 24
HLS launches the new Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Lawmakers address construction worker deaths, and Local Progress publishes the local government round up on workers' rights.
January 23
Cooling labor market, Amazon investigations, and tech layoffs.
January 22
As Bloomberg detailed on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, next in line to chair the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), has not given up on last year’s struggle to secure sick leave for railway workers. According to Bloomberg, Sanders is quietly planning to introduce legislation in the coming months that would require rail carriers […]