Colpa Taking Action in Court Ruling on Sabbath Observers Employed by Post Office

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently ruled that the United States Post Office does not have to arrange its work schedules so as to give Saturday as a day off to one who requested it on grounds of religious observance and not on the basis of seniority. The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) was asked to comment on this ruling. Julius Berman, president of COLPA, said that COLPA has been in close contact with the postal workers in the Virginia case for the past few weeks “as part of our Sabbath Observer program. We have been actively following the post office problem for some time as we have received numerous complaints from Orthodox Jews who have faced employment problems with various branches of the United States Post Office in connection with sabbath observance.”

The problem with post office employment practices regarding sabbath observance is very complex, Berman said. The post office maintains that the various statutes and regulations requiring accommodation to Sabbath Observers do not apply and that it, therefore, is not required to make any accommodation. Nevertheless, in some instances, we have been successful in arranging accommodations for particular individuals through negotiations with local postmasters, supervisors and post office officials in Washington. Berman said that COLPA is currently gathering data in connection with a coordinated, judicial, legislative and administrative program to establish rules requiring an accommodation throughout the Post Office Department. The program, parts of which are already in operation, is being directed by Howard Rhine and Nathan Lewin, national vice-presidents and Sidney Kwestel, national secretary and chairman of COLPA’s Sabbath Observer Committee.