Court Case - Working on Sundays/Sabbath

As an employee in a 24/7/365 department I have worked a ton of Sundays and I work at least half of the holidays every year.  If you go into it knowing that is part of the job then I believe if you can’t fulfill that you need to find another job.

It does not seem so cut and dry if it is something that changes after you accept a position.  However that being said, many jobs have to change shape and form as society and work environments change.  While I think the employer should make every attempt to not affect schedules (shift hours/days) that people were hired for prior to the changes, I also think it is in their right to be able to adapt positions to what they need.  It may require some type of grandfathering of older employees. Going forward if they add that the position may require weekend schedules and that does not fit your life, it is not the job for you.

So, basically, I am not sure if he should win.  I do think they need to make sure to include that in their job description when hiring new people and that it needs to be communicated and emphasized and not hidden when hiring.

ETA - I was hired for 2nd shift, knowing that there may be times that I had to cover for a different shift. If I was suddenly told that my position was permanently moving from 2nd to 3rd, I would not be happy but would not feel that I had the right to sue and require my employer to keep me on 2nd.  If it didn’t work for me I would accept that and find another job.

Job requirements change. You either change with them or you move on. I don’t support his argument here.

No, he should not win. If he doesn’t want to work on Sundays, get a job that doesn’t require it. His job changed so therefore he needs to either adjust or move on.

I think that since many jobs are M-F or M-S and Christian holidays are national holidays it can be easy when you are Christian to forget that calendars are often already structured around your own religious observance and that others are meant to make do.

If I accept his claim at face value - that the job he was hired for did not require Sunday employment - then I think he has an argument, if not necessarily a legal case. Apart from that, it would depend on what the company policy is. Many companies do not require you to work on a religious holiday, though I don't think that is a legal requirement. I also don't know if Sabbath days are included in that, even when religious holidays are excepted.

I know there are plenty of orthodox Jewish employees who have been fired for refusing to work within an hour or so of sundown on Friday and the day on Saturday, so I'd assume the Sabbath isn't an automatically protected category. And assuming that's legal, then the same would go for a Christian.

And let's be real - there aren't many Christians who have the same restrictions on their Sabbath day as orthodox Jews do. Even if they spend the whole day in worship and church activities, they are still allowed to drive a car or check email.

I strongly suspect this is not a legal case, even if it is a case where the company should try to work with the employee. However, "should" doesn't equate to "must." But I do think it's a worthwhile legal question to be answered.

I'm still stuck back on the quote in the OP from the article, the one that mentions religious reasons for not using pronouns for transgender students. I do believe that the New Testament is silent on the matter of pronouns.    And the Hebrew bible that the conservatives love to cherry pick doesn't mention anything about pronouns either.   


Also... I love this little guy ----->    -- He expresses so well my feeling about so much of what goes on today.   covers the rest of it.

Many of our Amazon deliveries on Sundays are via the Post Office!

Lol. Of course there are pronouns *in* the bible. But there are no instructions in there about how to use them, and nothing that forbids any so-called religious person from using them however someone else would like them to be used.