Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Florida

Civil Rights - Reasonable Accomodation for Religious Practice

I have been offered employment with the US Postal Service. I would like to know to what extent I may expect 'reasonable accomodation' for religious practice -- vis-a-vis the absolute impossibility of working on Saturday and other limited holidays.

I made this known during my initial interview. When recalled for a pre-employment drug screen, the local postmaster wanted to speak with me for approximately one hour. He made numerous statements (too many to describe with limited characters in this webform)... but the gist was that 'it would be illegal discrimination to give me preference in shift scheduling base on my religious practice' and he was quite slick in outlining the specific inevitable course of my employment: ie, I refuse to work on a Saturday, I am reprimanded, and so on until I am dismissed. The entire purpose of the discussion seemed to be to convince me to decline employment selection to spare myself (read: him) the trouble of the administrative burden of reasonable accommodation (which he did NOT offer in any regard). Insofar as his intent seemed to be to convince me to go elsewhere, I'm sure this is illegal discrimination. What can I expect from mgt if I accept appointment?


Asked on 4/13/07, 10:15 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeffrey Sheldon

Re: Civil Rights - Reasonable Accommodation for Religious Practice

I happen to work for the USPS. If you would be kind enough to send directly to me the post office location and name of the postmaster in question, I will look into this for you. Of course, I can not guarantee anything other than that the USPS will follow the law.

My USPS email is [email protected].

Sincerely,

Jeff Sheldon

Jeffrey L. Sheldon

For the USPS

CAVEAT: This is only general advice based on limited facts and knowledge of the situation. It thus can not be relied upon as legal advice nor is the author responsible or liable for any actions by the parties involved in the matter.

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Answered on 4/20/07, 11:41 am


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