Supreme Court seems sympathetic to postal worker who didn't work Sundays in dispute over religious accommodations

UNITED STATES: The Supreme Court seemed to side with a former mail carrier, an evangelical Christian, who says the US Postal Service failed to accommodate his request to not work on Sundays.

A lower court had ruled against the worker, Gerald Groff, holding that his request would cause an "undue burden" on the USPS and lead to low morale at the workplace when other employees had to pick up his shifts.

But during oral arguments on Tuesday, there appeared to be consensus, after almost two hours of oral arguments, that the appeals court had been too quick to rule against Groff.

There seemed to be, as Justice Elena Kagan put it, some level of "kumbaya-ing" between the justices on the bench at times.

But as justices sought to land on a test that lower courts could use to clarify how far employers must go to accommodate their employees' religious beliefs, differences arose when a lawyer for Groff suggested that the court overturn decades-old precedent. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito seemed open to the prospect.

Critically, however, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh were sympathetic to arguments made by the Postal Service that granting Groff's request might cause morale to plummet among the other employees. Kavanaugh noted that "morale" among employers is critical to the success of any business. And several justices nodded to the financial difficulties the USPS has faced over the years.

Groff, who lives in Pennsylvania, served in 2012 as a rural carrier associate at the United States Postal Service, a position that provides coverage for absent career employees who have earned the ability to take off weekends. Rural carrier associates are told they need flexibility.

This Bay News report is based on originating coverage from CNN.