Political Views Not Grounds for Vaccine Exemption, EEOC Says (1)

Workplace anti-bias laws require employers to consider requests for religious exemptions to a Covid-19 vaccination requirement, but those protections don’t extend to political objections to such mandates, the federal government said in new guidance Monday.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its technical guidance for employers to provide clarity about religious exemptions. The update said Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers against religious discrimination, doesn’t cover a worker’s request to be exempted from a workplace vaccination requirement for political, social, or economic reasons, because they don’t qualify as “religious beliefs.”

“When an employee’s objection ...