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Court Says Any Accommodation of 7th Day Adventist Would Impose Undue Hardship On Employer

By Howard M. Friedman

In Berry v. MeadWestvaco Packaging Systems, LLC, (MD AL, March 14, 2011), an Alabama federal district court dismissed a Title VII religious discrimination claim brought by a Seventh Day Adventist employee who was assigned to work at times that conflicted with his scripturally mandated Tuesday and Wednesday evening religious meetings. The company allowed Thomas Berry, a gluer operator, to swap shifts with other operators and to use his vacation time. However, he had insufficient vacation time and no other operator was willing to switch with him. The court concluded that while there is an issue of fact as to whether the company offered Berry reasonable accommodation, any available accommodation would have created "undue hardship" to the employer and therefore could not be imposed on the company. [Thanks to CCH Employment Law Daily via Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 17, 2011 (boomark / email).