EEOC updates employer guidance on religious objections to COVID-19 vaccines

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today posted updated and expanded technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing questions about religious objections to employer COVID-19 vaccine requirements and how they interact with federal Equal Employment Opportunity laws.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The Act applies when an applicant or employee requests an exception from an employer's COVID-19 vaccination requirement that conflicts with their sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances.

Among other key updates, the guidance says:

• Employees and applicants must inform their employer if they seek an exception to their employer's COVID-19 vaccine requirement due to a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance, but they do not need to use any "magic words" when making the request.
  
• An employer should assume that a request for religious accommodation is based on sincerely held religious beliefs. However, if an employer has an objective basis for questioning either the religious nature or the sincerity of a particular belief, the employer would be justified in making a limited factual inquiry and seeking additional supporting information.
  
• Employers that demonstrate "undue hardship" are not required to accommodate an employee's request for a religious accommodation. An employer will need to assess undue hardship by considering the particular facts of each situation, and will need to demonstrate how much cost or disruption the employee's proposed accommodation would involve. An employer cannot rely on speculative hardships when faced with an employee's religious objection but, rather, must rely on objective information in making any determination.