[Justice Byron] White then rejected the notion that TWA should have to pay \u201cpremium wages\u201d to a substitute, wrecking employment opportunities for many religiously observant employees. \u201cTo require TWA to bear more than a de minimis cost in order to give Mr. Hardison Saturdays off is an undue hardship,\u201d he wrote. He justified this repudiation of respect for conscience by declaring that if TWA bore any cost whatever, it \u201cwould involve unequal treatment of employees on the basis of their religion.\u201d Never mind that any accommodation by definition results in unequal treatment.<\/p>\n
Accommodating religious observance usually requires more than \u201cde minimis\u201d cost and inconvenience. By defining religious accommodation as voluntary cost-free etiquette, Justice White empowered bosses to treat an employees\u2019 religion as a mere inconvenience.<\/p>\n
Justice Thurgood Marshall declared in dissent: \u201cToday\u2019s decision deals a fatal blow to all efforts under Title VII to accommodate work requirements to religious practices.\u201d He concluded that \u201cone of this Nation\u2019s pillars of strength\u2014our hospitality to religious diversity\u2014has been seriously eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Patterson v. Walgreen, the drugstore chain claimed that it had accommodated Mr. Patterson\u2019s religious observance by offering him a lower-paying position in which he could observe the sabbath and by allowing him to swap shifts with other employees who wouldn\u2019t have to be paid extra. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said they were prepared to overrule White\u2019s noxious Hardison declaration. But they believed there were too many technical hurdles in Patterson v. Walgreen to make it \u201ca good vehicle for revisiting Hardison.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am an Orthodox Jew, and I\u2019ve been blessed with accommodative employers for nearly all of my professional life. Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n A blown opportunity for SCOTUS to come down strong on the side of religious liberty. https:\/\/t.co\/Gvau1qo1ii<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) March 5, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n