Walmart Informs Employees Their Hours Are Not Protected If They Do Not Work on the Sabbath

We have been informed of a troubling new scheduling policy being implemented by Walmart – the largest employer in America. We’ve been contacted by multiple Walmart employees regarding a potentially problematic new policy that will make it extremely difficult for Christians, Jews, and employees of other faiths to observe the Sabbath in accordance with their faith.

These employees contacted us after becoming aware of a new teaming schedule guideline being implemented by multiple stores nationwide. These employees want to ensure that they can exercise the tenets of their faith while also maintaining a consistent work schedule like they have done in the past.

Walmart’s new scheduling guideline forces employees to work on the weekends to protect their hours. Previously, employees could submit their weekly availability and then receive a schedule based on their availability. We have seen multiple employees mark their unavailability on  Sundays to attend church in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs.

The new “team” scheduling guideline at Walmart, as we understand it, requires employees to opt in – giving up their right to go to church – in order to maintain consistent 40-hour work weeks. The major issue here is that employees must be available to work on the weekends to be considered for the team scheduling and thus maintain full employment.

Walmart is now relying on an algorithm that calculates customer demand; and if an employee is not on the teaming schedule, their hours will be cut if customer demand is low. Those on the teaming schedule are not harmed, while those who are not on the teaming schedule can get their hours cut if customer demand is low. This inevitably impacts any employee, including the employees who have contacted us, who cannot work on Sundays according to their faith. In fact, one of our contacts was told that if they do not opt in to the teaming schedule, they could lose their status as a full-time employee.

Walmart employees are essentially being forced to give up their right to go to church in exchange for full employment. If applied in this manner, it would constitute a direct violation of these employees’ legal rights.

While Walmart is telling employees – including our client who works at a Walmart in Indiana – that the teaming schedule protects their hours and ensures the customers are taken care of, the reality is that any employee who regularly attends church on Saturday or Sunday is being forced to choose between 1) working the weekends against their religious beliefs or 2) taking Sundays off and potentially having their hours cut or losing full-time status. Walmart has not provided any reassurance that it will honor religious accommodations – as required by law – nor has it said how employees can maintain their full-time status while also observing the Sabbath. The employees are either on the teaming schedule (hours protected) or not on the teaming schedule (hours not protected).

The Supreme Court has made clear that under Title VII employers are required to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees if the accommodation does not pose an undue hardship on the overall context of the business. A religious belief to observe the Sabbath falls squarely within the broad definition of religion. Religious accommodations are to be evaluated by the employer on a case-by-case basis. The bar to reach undue burden is a significant one. The employer must show that granting the accommodation for that specific employee would result in substantial increased costs. Moreover, the EEOC Compliance Manual also provides, “[I]n some cases where an employer has made no effort to act on an accommodation request, courts have found that the employer lacked the evidence needed to meet its burden of proof to establish that the plaintiff’s proposed accommodation would actually have posed an undue hardship.”

Here Walmart is requiring employees to work on the weekends against their religious beliefs to observe the Sabbath. On its face, Walmart’s new policy is discriminatory: The hours of employees who do not observe the Sabbath are protected, while the hours of employees who observe the Sabbath are not protected. This policy is extremely concerning as it will have a tremendous impact on the religious rights of any Walmart employee.

Thus far, Walmart has ignored and refused to grant a religious accommodation for one of the employees who has contacted us. Walmart has told our client that it cannot guarantee their hours if they are not available on Sunday because of their faith. In addition, another employee was told that Walmart cannot even guarantee their Sundays off or their full-time status if they are not available on Sunday because of their faith.

We hope that before we are forced to take legal action Walmart will revamp its new scheduling policy to ensure that it complies with Title VII. Any employees who have requested days off to observe the Sabbath, whether it be Saturday or Sunday, will be harmed by this new teaming schedule. Thus, employees are now forced to choose between observing the Sabbath or possibly having their hours cut with reduced pay or losing full-time status – the exact conflict that Title VII protects.

We helped our client prepare and submit a formal request for a religious accommodation. Unfortunately, Walmart has thus far ignored that request. We are now preparing to send a demand letter this week. If they do not comply with the law, the ACLJ is willing and able to hold Walmart accountable in court for its new scheduling policy, if necessary. But first, we are willing to work with Walmart to help devise a solution to protect the religious liberty rights of Walmart’s millions of employees.  If you are a Walmart employee and you have been forced to choose between working on Sundays and getting your hours cut, your rights under Title VII may have been violated. Please contact us at ACLJ.org/Help.