## Facts

- Larry G. Hardison, a member of the Worldwide Church of God, believed he could not work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.
- He worked in Trans World Airlines, Inc.’s (TWA) Kansas City Stores Department, a continuous (24/7) operation staffed under a collectively bargained seniority system.
- In an earlier position, Hardison’s seniority allowed him to bid for schedules that avoided Saturday work.
- After Hardison requested a transfer within the department, his lower seniority left him unable to bid for Saturdays off, and he was scheduled for Saturday shifts.
- TWA and the union explored options such as voluntary shift swaps, but the union would not depart from the seniority rules, and swaps were not a stable solution.
- Hardison proposed alternatives, including a four-day workweek that would avoid Saturdays; TWA rejected the proposal, citing operational needs in a critical department.
- Hardison refused to work assigned Saturday shifts and was discharged for insubordination and failure to work scheduled assignments.

## Issues

1. Whether Title VII required TWA and the union to accommodate Hardison’s Sabbath observance by modifying schedules or shift assignments despite a collectively bargained seniority system.
2. Whether proposed accommodations—such as overriding seniority, paying premium overtime to cover shifts, or operating short-staffed—constituted “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business” under Title VII.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and held, 7–2, that TWA did not violate Title VII.
- TWA’s efforts were deemed a reasonable attempt to accommodate Hardison’s religious practice.
- Title VII did not require TWA or the union to violate a bona fide seniority system to give Hardison Saturdays off.
- Accommodations that would impose more than a de minimis cost—such as regularly paying overtime or disrupting staffing in a continuous operation—constituted undue hardship and were not required.
- The dissent argued the majority’s undue-hardship approach weakened Congress’s intended protection for religious observance.

## Legal Principles

- Title VII’s duty to accommodate religious observance does not require an employer or union to override a bona fide, collectively bargained seniority system to benefit one employee at the expense of others’ contractual preferences.
- An employer is not required to adopt an accommodation that imposes more than a de minimis cost or operational burden; such costs qualify as “undue hardship” under the Court’s interpretation.
- Regularly incurring premium wages to cover an employee’s religiously motivated absences, or operating with reduced staffing in a critical operation, may constitute undue hardship.
- The statute does not compel an employer to disadvantage other employees to enable one employee’s religious observance.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Title VII did not require TWA to accommodate an employee’s Sabbath observance by violating a bona fide seniority system or by adopting measures that would impose more than minimal cost or operational disruption, and it upheld Hardison’s discharge after accommodation efforts proved unsuccessful.


Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63 (1977)