A jail administrator posted apocalyptic religious commentary online. A reporter found it, published a story, and suddenly the county faced community outrage and questions from federal officials about whether they would continue housing inmates at the jail. The county fired the administrator. The employee sued under Title VII.
The Eighth Circuit just said: not so fast.
TL;DR: The Eighth Circuit reversed summary judgment for the employer, holding the county did not provide sufficient record evidence of undue hardship under Groff v. DeJoy (2023) at the summary-judgment stage. Reputational harm and threatened contract losses were too speculative on this record.
The Jail Administrator’s Online “Treatise” and Fallout
The employee worked as a jail administrator for about a decade…………………