Return to Work: Employer-Mandated COVID-19 Vaccination Policies and Accommodating Employee Disabilities and Religious Beliefs
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
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word derived from the Aramaic ḥuṣpāh. It means impudence, gall, and an audacious disregard for rules. In the world of employment law, it can aptly describe employees who try to get what they want...more
In Part One of this two-part bulletin, we explored the expansive meaning of religious beliefs entitled to an accommodation under Title VII and the reluctance of courts to second guess whether a belief is “religious” in...more
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case I blogged about in January. The case is about what standard of "undue hardship" should apply in religious accommodation cases. Under every...more
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new guidance and questions and answers regarding COVID-19 issues confronting employers and employees. The EEOC’s Technical Assistance is...more
On October 25, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding a brand-new section addressing religious objections to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. ...more
On Oct. 25, 2021 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidance for resolving religious objections to COVID-19 workplace vaccination mandates. This guidance comes at a time when many employees are...more
Over the last several weeks, employers, in tandem with their legal counsel, have been grappling in good faith with religious exemption requests pouring in following the imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The analysis...more
What You Should Know: •The latest EEOC guidance explains how Title VII applies when an applicant or employee requests exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement because of the individual’s sincerely held religious...more
On October 25, 2021, as more employers adopt workplace vaccination requirements for their employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance concerning requiring COVID-19 vaccinations in...more
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 Technical Assistance Questions and Answers publication to provide additional guidance for employers on handling employee religious...more
Somebody say "Amen." The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has added a new section to its COVID-19 guidance, related to religious objections to vaccine mandates. I am happy (OK, relieved) to say that the latest...more
Since March 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) COVID-19 technical assistance, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” has been a valuable...more
As many employers begin implementing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, they are receiving a large number of employee requests for exemption from the vaccine for religious reasons. Before this week there was no direct guidance from...more
On Monday, October 25, 2021, the EEOC released much-awaited guidance on how employers should handle employee requests to be exempted from vaccination requirements because of religious beliefs. The new guidance is in the new...more
On Monday, October 25, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued updates to its online technical assistance for employers, providing guidance for managing workplace issues arising from the ongoing...more
For what it’s worth, on October 25, 2021, the EEOC updated its guidance “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws” and added Section L entitled “Vaccinations – Title VII and...more
Many employers that require COVID-19 vaccinations of employees have been receiving requests for exceptions from the vaccine requirement as an accommodation based on religion. On October 25, 2021, the Equal Opportunity...more
On Monday, October 25, the EEOC issued the much-anticipated update to its COVID-19 guidance (What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws). The update again addresses how...more
I'm not sure the ADA will let you do that. There has been a lot in the news lately about job applicants who include their COVID-19 vaccination status on their resumes, employers who ask applicants for that information, and...more
As we reported on Friday, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force complied with Executive Order 14042 (“Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors”) by issuing guidance for federal contractors on...more
For those in the Sacramento area, you may have seen large “Destiny” signs overhanging State Route 65 north of Interstate 80. A news story last month suggested that this church is the place to go for COVID-19 vaccine exemption...more
Now that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its formal approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, many employers are beginning to implement vaccine requirements for employees. This article...more
Title VII requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee whose sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with a work requirement, unless providing the accommodation would...more
Over 50% of the adult population of the U.S. has received at least one dose of a vaccine to combat COVID-19, and many employers are looking forward to a “return to normal,” with employees coming back to the workplace. But...more