Supreme Court conservatives seem divided in major religion case

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case testing how far employers must go to accommodate the religious views of their employees.

Federal civil rights law requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of workers as long as that accommodation does not impose an “undue hardship” on the employer’s business.

Nearly a half-century ago, the Supreme Court defined an undue hardship as a substantial additional cost, but it also said that the cost need not be more than a de minimis amount, defined in the dictionary as a trifling amount.