Employer Skepticism Mounts as Line Blurs Between Faith, Politics

Religious objections to corporate diversity, vaccine, and pronoun policies are prompting employers to question whether workers’ faith-based claims stem from sincerely held beliefs protected by federal law or political ideologies that aren’t.

Previously, religious discrimination cases rarely delved into an examination of an employee’s beliefs, attorneys said. That could change as the nation becomes more polarized over social, cultural, and political issues that can bleed into workplaces.

Already, workers have mounted legal challenges to a wide swath of company measures on religious grounds, from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and anti-bias training to pronoun policies and Covid-19 vaccine rules. ...