Courts Develop Hardship Test for Worker Religious Accommodations

Federal courts have started to shape what factors enable employers to sidestep religious accommodation requests considered burdensome as they assess the bounds of the US Supreme Court’s stronger standard protecting religiously observant workers.

The high court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision changed the legal landscape for employees objecting to workplace policies on religious grounds. Employers can’t deny a religious accommodation because it’s an undue hardship unless they show that a requested accommodation “would result in substantial increased costs” to the business, the justices unanimously held.

Since then, at least four federal appellate courts have revived cases to explore that ...