Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August issued a press release highlighting its “200 Days of Action to Protect Religious Freedom at Work.”  The press release serves as a reminder to employers that new Supreme Court precedent requires closer consideration of employee requests for accommodations based on their religious beliefs under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Title VII prohibits religious discrimination and allows employees to request reasonable accommodations at work based on sincerely held religious beliefs.  For many years, employers could deny religious accommodation requests if they imposed “more than de minimis” burden on the employer’s operations.  As a practical matter, the “more than de minimis” standard allowed employers to deny accommodation requests that would create any hardship on their business or its employees.  But in 2023, the Supreme Court rejected the “more than de minimis” standard and held that employers must establish a substantial hardship to deny religious accommodation requests, marking a significant expansion of employee rights under Title VII. 

Since Groff, the EEOC has taken more aggressive stances in cases involving religious accommodation requests.  In the press release, the EEOC highlighted several cases in which it achieved significant settlement payments for employees who were denied requested accommodations related to employer vaccination requirements.  The EEOC has also sued employers in cases involving employee religious social media posts and religious attire, among other issues. 

Employers should ensure that their training, policies and practices reflect the new “substantial burden” standard articulated in Groff to avoid potential liability risk under the religious accommodation provisions of Title VII.  When employees request religious accommodations, employers should take them seriously, engage in a robust interactive process to understand the conflict between the employment requirement and the employee’s religious belief, and consider whether the employee’s requested accommodation, or another reasonable accommodation, can eliminate that conflict.  If employers believe the accommodation requests present a substantial hardship on the business, then they should carefully document the reasons for that conclusion, including evidence of the costs or burden of the accommodation, and the lack of acceptable alternative accommodations.