1Supreme Court Delivers Blockbuster 9-0 Decision in Closely-Watched Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously decided in favor of a postal worker from Pennsylvania in a significant religious liberty case involving the appropriateness of employers’ accommodation of religious preferences in the workplace.
Christian mailman Gerald Groff of Pennsylvania requested the court rule on whether the U.S. Postal Service may make him deliver parcels from Amazon on Sundays, which he observes as the Sabbath. His lawyer, Aaron Streett, argued in April that the court needed to review a decision from 50 years ago that set a standard for figuring out when companies have to make allowances for their workers’ religious practices.
In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court rejected a ruling from 1977 that mandated that businesses must “reasonably accommodate” an employee’s religious practices as long as doing so does not put an “undue hardship” on the company.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would be an “undue hardship” for the business. A 1977 Supreme Court case, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, said employers could deny religious accommodations to employees when they impose “more than a de minimis cost” on the business.
Streett said the court should get rid of the “de minimus” test because lower courts have used it wrongly to deny religious accommodations. Instead, he said, the court should use the plain language of Title VII, which would define “undue burden” the same way it is in other federal laws, like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Back in April, postal worker unions asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the potential adversity that religious accommodations for some employees may have on their co-workers.
“A day off is not the special privilege of the religious. Days off, especially on the weekend, are when parents can spend the day with children who are otherwise in school, when people can spend time on the other necessities of life, and when the community enjoys a common day of rest for churchgoers and the nonreligious alike,” the American Postal Workers Union noted in a brief to the court.
Title VII mandates that employers accommodate a worker’s religious observance or practices unless it results in “undue hardship” for the business. In the 1977 case, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, the Supreme Court defined undue hardship as anything that imposes more than a minor or “de minimis” cost on the employer.
Groff’s legal team requested that the Supreme Court overturn the Hardison precedent and mandate that companies demonstrate a “significant difficulty or expense” before refusing to grant an accommodation.
Several groups representing religions in the United States that are in the minority, including Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism, have informed the Supreme Court that the Hardison standard has unfairly impacted them and must be revised, Reuters noted in a prior story and report.
“By allowing employers to refuse to accommodate employees’ beliefs for almost any reason, Hardison forces devout employees to make an impossible daily choice between religious duty and livelihood,” said the Muslim Public Affairs Council in a brief.
James Phillips, a law professor at Chapman University in California, told Reuters that a “strong majority” or even all nine justices could side with Groff.
“This may be one of those religious liberty cases where the right and the left are actually aligned,” Phillips opined.
Groff was employed as a “rural carrier associate” in Quarryville and Holtwood, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As part of his job, he was required to substitute for absent career carriers, including on weekends.
In 2013, the Postal Service contracted with Amazon.com to deliver packages, which included Sunday deliveries, in an effort to remain profitable.
A Little Girl Saves a Billionaire’s Life — Then He Discovers Who She Really Is
It was a scorching afternoon in Dallas when Alexander Reed, once celebrated as a tech prodigy and self-made billionaire, collapsed on the sidewalk — and no one noticed.
People rushed past without slowing down. Some assumed he was drunk. Others thought he was just another exhausted executive in an expensive suit. No one realized that the CEO of Nexora Technologies was lying there, barely conscious.
He had just lost fifty million dollars in a disastrous investment. His mother was in intensive care after suffering a stroke. Years of sleepless nights and relentless pressure had finally broken him.
But fate had other plans.
A little girl in a bright red dress, chasing butterflies nearby, froze when she heard the sound of his fall. She ran toward him, placed her tiny hand on his chest, and whispered softly, “He’s still breathing.”
With trembling fingers, she grabbed his phone and dialed emergency services. Her calm voice and quick thinking saved his life.
Neither of them realized that this moment — a stranger’s compassion on a blazing Texas afternoon — would change everything.
Because the man she had just saved was not a stranger.
He was…
Her father.
A child born from a brief love story years ago.
Alexander blinked in shock as he looked at her. The little girl stared back with eyes that felt hauntingly familiar.
Her smile. Her gaze. Something deep inside him stirred. A memory long buried surfaced — a summer night, a soft laugh, a promise he never kept.
“Daddy…” she whispered, her voice small but certain.
The word pierced through him.
He leaned forward slowly, hands shaking.
“Are you… are you really mine?” he asked, his voice barely steady.
She nodded shyly, clutching the worn teddy bear she carried everywhere.
In that moment, Alexander felt his heart shatter and mend all at once. For years, he had chased success and wealth, ignoring the fragile human connections that truly mattered.
And now destiny — in the form of a fearless little girl — was giving him a second chance.
The paramedics stood nearby, quietly respecting the scene.
Alexander gently brushed her hair from her face, tears filling his eyes.
“I will never let you go again,” he whispered.
That day, on the scorching pavement of Dallas, a life was saved — and a family long separated was finally brought back together.
Past mistakes and future hope met in the eyes of a little girl brave enough to change everything.
