GEL Partner Kevin Owen was interviewed by Bloomberg Law News in a recent article discussing the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case regarding religious accommodation issues in the workplace. The case, Groff v. DeJoy, deals with a Postal Service employee seeking religious schedule adjustments so that he did not have to work on his Sabbath. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to revisit the question of what level of undue hardship excuses an employer from granting reasonable accommodation based on disability. Although Groff is a federal sector case, the questions presented on appeal are also applicable to many private sector and state and local government employees as well. The issue of undue hardship for religious accommodations is especially timely given the significant number of federal employees and other employees who have sought religious accommodations to excuse them from complying with COVID vaccination mandates, as previously discussed in this blog. As Mr. Owen observed, ““The court often does not want to get involved with telling an employer how to run their business […] So what I’m going to be looking at is how are they going to balance the competing interest of not burdening employers while also giving employees greater protections for their religious beliefs.” To read the article, click here.
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