Appeals Courts Limit Employers’ Scrutiny of Religious Beliefs

Employers risk lengthy and costly litigation when they deny religious accommodation requests over doubts about the sincerity of workers’ faith-based claims, even if employees’ asserted beliefs overlap with unprotected secular ideologies.

This liability risk is evident in recent federal appellate rulings that revived lawsuits from workers who were terminated or faced other adverse actions after being denied religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

Rulings from six circuit courts indicate that more of these kinds of cases will advance to the summary judgment phase or even proceed to trial because this kind of inquiry is fact-intensive, employment law attorneys said. While ...