8th Circuit Agrees, Request For Religious Accommodation Is Not Oppositional Conduct

Seyfarth Synopsis: The 8th Circuit recently held that while a request for a religious accommodation may qualify as a protected activity, it is not necessarily "oppositional" so as to give rise to an opposition-clause retaliation claim under Title VII. Employers considering requests for religious accommodation should, despite this Circuit's narrow decision, proceed carefully when considering any request.

Last year we blogged about a Minnesota District Court's decision holding that a religious accommodation request did not constitute a protected activity under Title VII. The plaintiff appealed the ruling. On November 13, 2018, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that it could not "categorically" resolve whether a request for religious accommodation is oppositional activity for a retaliation claim, but that it would affirm the ruling for the employer on the summary judgment record in this case.