Executive Summary: Recent actions by
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) emphasize
employers’ obligations under Title VII of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act to accommodate workers’ religious objections to
receiving a flu vaccination. For example, a Middle Tennessee
hospital has agreed to pay $75,000 and perform other non-monetary
actions to settle an EEOC lawsuit claiming it violated Title VII by
failing to accommodate a worker’s sincerely held religious
beliefs against receiving an annual flu vaccination.
The hospital requires all hospital workers, including employees
of third-party contractors, to receive an annual flu shot. One
contractor’s employee notified the hospital he had a
sincerely held religious objection to receiving vaccinations, such
as a flu shot. Prior to 2015, the hospital permitted this worker to
forego the annual vaccination requirement and instead allowed him
to wear a protective medical mask while inside the hospital. In
2015, however,
