EEOC to Ramp Up Religious Bias Suits With Republicans at Helm

The EEOC is expected to magnify its growing focus on religious discrimination in workplaces as a newly restored quorum allows its Republican acting chair to execute on more Trump administration priorities.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought 11 religious bias lawsuits in fiscal year 2025, a near-decade high despite having the lowest number of overall cases filed annually in that 10-year period.

Acting Chair Andrea Lucas’s stated priorities signal the agency’s proportion of religious cases will likely remain high. Paired with a recent US Supreme Court decision on accommodations, the EEOC’s new agenda will put employers on alert over faith-based requests and on how religious rights may collide with LGBTQ+ protections.

Lucas said in a statement she is proud of the commission’s “tremendous wins” to defend religious liberty so far this year.

“Now, with the wider latitude that the quorum brings, I look forward to advancing broader litigation priorities, as well as continuing our religious liberty work,” she said.

Some of the uptick in fiscal year 2025 religious discrimination filings was due to investigations already underway from the Biden administration, such as an influx of Covid-19 vaccine-related religious accommodation charges, said Ogletree Deakins attorney Nonnie Shivers. The Supreme Court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision was also a factor, she said.

The high court clarified that employers must reasonably accommodate a worker’s religion under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act unless it “would result in substantial increased costs” and cause an undue hardship to their business.

Litigation Focus

With a third commissioner newly sworn in, and a solid Republican majority in place, the EEOC will be able to bring significant litigation for the first time in this administration.

It could focus on religious discrimination through systemic cases that would make an industry-wide impact, said D.J. O’Brien, a partner at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP.

The EEOC might pursue cases on social media policies, displays of religious symbols, and requests for prayer or religious observance, O’Brien said.

One of the EEOC’s 2025 lawsuits came on behalf of an employee at The Rock Snowpark fired over faith-based social media posts.

The agency also sued an Apple store for failing to accommodate a Jewish worker’s request not to work while observing the Sabbath.

The Apple case shows what the EEOC’s new priorities will be, including the extent to which an employer is going to need to demonstrate that providing an accommodation causes a substantial burden, O’Brien said.

“The current administration is going to apply Groff to the widest extent possible, which means that the employer will have a much higher burden in showing that accommodating a religious expression request affects their business operation,” he said.

The EEOC underscored its stance on Groff in two federal workforce cases decided this year, including one that found the Department of Veterans affairs liable for failing to accommodate a Muslim physician’s weekly prayer.

Lucas said in a statement at the time the decisions emphasize that “it is the employer’s ultimate responsibility—not the employee’s—to persuasively demonstrate that an accommodation would impose an undue hardship.”

In 2025, the EEOC inked its largest public settlement in nearly 20 years to resolve allegations of antisemitism at Columbia University. The $21 million deal resolved claims including a commissioner’s charge brought by Lucas.

More lawsuits, including from possible commissioner’s charges, are likely to follow now that EEOC can vote on litigation, Shivers said.

Compliance Advice

The EEOC might also alter its existing compliance advice documents around religious discrimination and issue guidance with updated examples for employers looking to avoid suits.

The agency’s religious discrimination compliance manual online currently includes a note that it was issued before Groff.

The Office of Personnel Management issued two memos in July that may serve as a “beta test” for EEOC guidance for private employers, O’Brien said.

One allows federal employees to pray at work and persuade colleagues to adopt their religious beliefs.

Similar guidance for private employers could lead to difficulties balancing the rights of workers, such as if a supervisor expresses religious affiliation, but it happens in a way that makes employees feel coerced or uncomfortable, O’Brien said.

Intersecting Priorities

The EEOC’s religious discrimination priority also intersects with others Lucas outlined, Shivers said, including eliminating bias caused by diversity programs and defending the “binary reality” of sex.

The EEOC may seek to re-balance religious rights with protections for other groups, such as gay and transgender workers. That could be through objections to policies that allow those employees to use their preferred pronouns, or to have Pride month celebrations, Shivers said.

The EEOC’s complaint against The Rock Snowpark hinted at this clash. The EEOC said the wrongly fired employee’s faith-based social media posts were flagged by the company because they were potentially “discriminatory to gay people.”

The EEOC already limited processing of transgender bias charges and withdrew from related cases filed under the Biden administration. It’s poised to retract Biden-era guidance addressing gender identity.

Trump has directed the government to recognize only two sexes and “correct the misapplication” of the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision. It held Title VII prohibits sexual orientation and gender identity-based employment bias.

There’s a concern that EEOC will use religious accommodation in a way that would result in discrimination against those with other protected traits, such as sexual orientation or gender identity, said Dena Sher, associate vice president of public policy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“That’s not what the religious accommodation provision was ever meant to do,” she added.

First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub said she expects the EEOC will follow the law and balance important rights for all employees.

“I’m hopeful this administration will protect religious employees as well, who have sincere concerns and might be facing situations at work where they’re forced to choose between following their faith and losing their job,” she said.