Religious Issues In The Workplace Only Getting Hotter

The US Supreme Court threw employers a curveball in 2023 (Groff v. Dejoy,600 U.S. 447 (2023)) when it held that an employer must show a substantial cost to its business in order to deny an employee's religious accommodation request. The standard for decades had been whether a religious accommodation created a burden for the employer or fellow employees. With respect to absences, an employer simply had to seek volunteers, and could stop short of forcing employees to cover for an employee's religious-related absence.

Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit joined five other circuits in ruling that workers have a minimal burden in demonstrating a basis for their religious beliefs. In other words, employers should initially take an employee's word for it that they subscribe to a particular religion, or that the belief qualifies as a religion.