U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced the end of Saturday mail delivery today, which would save two billion dollars a year. The decision would not affect package delivery. Union leaders were angered, calling for his resignation. The North American Religious Liberty Association thought this was "great news for Adventists and people who keep Sabbath throughout the United States." Read their statement below.
In what Seventh-day Adventist Church Associate Counsel Todd McFarland hailed as "great news for Adventists and people who keep Sabbath throughout the United States," the U.S. Postal Service announced today that it would cease Saturday mail delivery beginning August 1. Saturday package delivery will continue, and post offices will remain open on Saturdays, but with reduced hours.
The move was motivated by tens of billions of dollars in losses in recent years, and should save the agency about $2 billion a year. However the decision has a positive, albeit unintended, consequence as well.
"For decades the USPS has been the single most troublesome employer for those seeking Sabbath workplace accommodation. Halting Saturday delivery will not only prevent many future Sabbath observance conflicts for Adventists employed by the post office, but will help resolve current situations in which mail carrier-church members are experiencing discrimination," said McFarland.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that job discrimination complaints continue to grow at an alarming rate in the United States, with charges based on religious discrimination jumping by 9.5 percent in 2011, the largest increase of any category.