Title VII requires an employer to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs unless it causes the employer an undue hardship.  Sometimes, an accommodation is possible.  Sometimes, it’s not.  But the employer must always consider whether it’s possible.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals provides some guidance on the concept of religious accommodation in Sturgill v. United Parcel Service, Inc.  (Check out the Nebraska Employment Law Letter for a summary of this case.)  A UPS package car driver was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  A fundamental tenet of the church is that you can’t work past sundown on Friday.  The driver requested a year-round accommodation that would ensure his never having to work past sundown on Friday.  The company rejected this request as being too broad.

On one Friday, it became apparent that the driver wouldn’t be able to complete his deliveries before sundown.  He requested an accommodation.  It was denied.  He quit and sued UPS for violating Title VII.  The case was tried before a jury, which found in favor of the employee, returning a verdict of $103,722.25 in compensatory damages, $207,444.50 in punitive damages, and $134,838.37 in attorneys’ fees.  On appeal, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict.

The problem for UPS was that it had, almost routinely, made it possible for the employee to avoid working past sundown on Friday in the past by splitting up deliveries among other drivers so that the employee in question could be through by sundown.  It was obvious that it could be done without causing an undue hardship.  At least, there was enough evidence for a jury to reasonably draw that conclusion.

A big company will have a more difficult time showing that a religious accommodation causes an undue hardship than a smaller company will.  UPS has a lot of drivers.  It’s a bit of a stretch for a jury to accept the argument that there’s just no way for the company to figure out some way for a driver to meet his religious obligation to stop work before sundown on Friday.  That’s particularly true when accommodations have already been provided to the driver without bringing the company’s work to a standstill.  That’s a reminder that before you start handing out accommodations, look at the big picture and make sure your supervisors check with human resources before deciding an accommodation question on their own.