Keeping Holy the Sabbath

Employee believes in the importance of the Sabbath and the biblical requirement that all work cease on that day.  When interviewed for his job as a Home Depot sales associate in Henrietta, NY, he made his supervisors aware that he could not work on Sundays, and was hired.  A year later, a new supervisor arrived in the Henrietts store and told the employee he must work on Sunday.  He refused.  She offered him a late shift so he could attend services, but he said that violated the Sabbath.  Was the offer of a late shift a reasonable accomodation for religious discrimination?

A federal judge in the Western District of New York ruled yes.  However, the Second Circuit reversed, finding that the trial judge had incorrctly concluded that an offer to require the worker to work only Sunday afternoons and evenings was a sufficient accomodation for religious beliefs.  The Court cited an earlier Sixth CIrcuit ruling that an employer does not fulfill its obligation when it accomodates one religious objection (need to attend religious services) but not another (not working on the Sabbath).  The Second Circuit did suggest that the store's offer of part-time employment (which the employee rejected because of his economic need to work full-time) or offering the possibility the employee could change shifts with his co-workers from week to week, might be sufficient accomodation under Title VII and remanded to the district court for determination of these issues.  In my view, it is hard to see how either of those constitutes a sufficient accomodation.  (The case is Baker v. The Home Depot, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 9891.)