Taking a Stand for the Sabbath
Darrell Patterson, the former Walgreens customer service trainer who was fighting for Sabbath accommodation in the workplace, will not have his lawsuit heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, a decision announced on February 24. A lower court decision, Patterson v. Walgreen Co., will stand for now in a ruling against the employee.
Patterson had worked for Walgreens in Orlando, Florida, for six years. But on August 19, 2011, a Friday, he was instructed to conduct an emergency training session the following day, the Sabbath. It turned out that a management error, a violation of law, in fact, had forced the shutdown of a call center in Alabama, and company officials had then transferred that work to the Orlando facility.
Previously, Patterson had consistently been able to find someone else to cover his responsibilities when a Sabbath conflict arose. In turn, Patterson would cover the other worker’s non-Sabbath shift. But this time, that had not been possible. When Patterson didn’t show up for work on Sabbath, he was suspended and then later fired—even though he conducted the training on the following Monday, ahead of a court-imposed deadline.