Former midstate mailman says USPS failed to accommodate religious beliefs

• Rachel McDevitt/StateImpact Pennsylvania
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  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
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  I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

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(Harrisburg) — A former midstate mail carrier has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service, because he says it failed to accommodate his religious beliefs.

According to court documents, Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian, felt forced to resign his job as a mailman in Lancaster County after he was repeatedly scheduled to work on Sundays then disciplined when he refused the shifts.

His motion filed in the the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania asks a judge to find that the USPS violated his rights by requiring him to work on Sundays against his religious beliefs.

Groff worked as a mailman for seven years. According to court documents, Sunday work was not required until the office entered into a contract with Amazon in 2015 to make Sunday deliveries.

Groff requested a religious accommodation, but was effectively denied when he was scheduled for Sunday shifts.

He resigned in January 2019.

Groff is represented by the conservative Independence Law Center.

In a statement, a USPS spokeswoman said the agency is aware of the lawsuit, but unable to comment on it at this time.

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