Return to Work: Employer-Mandated COVID-19 Vaccination Policies and Accommodating Employee Disabilities and Religious Beliefs
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recently issued significant decisions against two federal employers for failing to provide reasonable religious accommodations to their employees. These decisions...more
Big news dropped this week, and it’s one of those stories that makes my phone start buzzing with texts from clients, friends, and family asking: “Could the Supreme Court actually take away marriage equality?” Kim Davis, the...more
Divine intervention? John Kluge, a high school orchestra teacher in the Indianapolis area, was let go in 2018 after he refused to address transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns. Mr. Kluge, a Christian...more
The standard practice at many workplaces has long been for employees to refrain from expressing their religious beliefs in the workplace, especially toward co-workers and customers. However, new guidance from the Trump...more
On July 28, 2025, the United States Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) issued a memorandum endorsing federal employees expressing their religious beliefs in the workplace. Specifically, OPM Director Scott Kupor instructed...more
Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement, commenced litigation against Rock Snowpark on July 2, 2025, for allegedly retaliating...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor has raised new considerations for districts faced with requests from parents to excuse students from instruction they believe is at odds with their religious beliefs. ...more
On the final day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools must accommodate parents’ religious objections to certain instructional materials — in this case, LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks used in elementary...more
In a 6-3 decision with the justices split along familiar ideological lines, the United States Supreme Court held on Friday, June 27, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U.S. ___ (2025) (Case No. 24-297)...more
Today, on the last day of the 2024-2025 term, the Supreme Court of the United States issued five decisions: Trump v. CASA, Inc., No. 24A884: This case addresses whether district courts had the authority to issue...more
The COVID-19 pandemic brought workplace vaccination policies to the forefront, raising complex questions about religious accommodations. Over four years after the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, these policies remain...more
As modern workplaces grow increasingly diverse, employers must be prepared to accommodate employees’ religious practices and observations in a respectful, inclusive, and lawful manner. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of...more
On April 4, 2025, the final day of Georgia’s legislative session, Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a “religious liberty” bill that will strengthen protections for the free exercise of religion by prohibiting state and...more
The Nevada legislature is currently considering a bill, SB 201, that would restrict, with certain exceptions, an association or unit’s owner who rents or leases his or her unit from prohibiting a unit’s owner or occupant of a...more
Ramadan is coming up soon, so now is a good time to consider religious accommodations and legal protections for Muslim employees....more
After the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, on January 30 a federal district court denied dueling motions for summary judgment filed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Postal Service, and former Postal...more
If you followed California’s 2024 Legislative term, you know that Senate Bill 399 (“SB 399”) was passed and signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 27, 2024. For the most part, SB 399 has been described as a new...more
On January 1, 2025, Senate (SB) Bill 399, officially went into effect in California. California joined other states, including Illinois, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, and Oregon, in enacting statutes that prohibit “captive...more
Lawsuits challenging employers' authority to require measures intended to prevent COVID-19 infections continue to wend their way through the federal judiciary. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a claim...more
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 399, known as “The California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” into law. Practically speaking, SB 399 was enacted to prohibit employers from requiring employees to...more
Knowing several religious holidays are coming up soon, employers can take steps to avoid triggering religious discrimination and reasonable accommodation lawsuits. Consistently applying paid time off rules can help to prevent...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the myriad claims for religious accommodation that came out of mandatory COVID vaccination policies, employers have become familiar how to handle requests for religious accommodation in the workplace. ...more
On August 31, 2024, the California Legislature passed the California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act, Senate Bill (SB) No. 399. The bill heads to Governor Gavin Newsom, who has until September 30, 2024, to sign...more
Several changes impacting employers in jurisdictions across the nation are summarized in our latest blog post. California - Effective July 1, 2024- On July 1, 2024, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2288 (A.B. 2288)...more
Illinois joined a handful of other states in limiting employers’ ability to conduct “captive audience” meetings when Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB3649, commonly known as the Worker Freedom of Speech Act. The Act...more