Employer’s Undue Hardship Evidence Is Key in Religious Accommodation, Vaccine Mandate Case

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers cannot take an adverse employment action against an individual on the basis of their religion — or fail to offer a reasonable accommodation for a sincerely held religious belief — unless doing so would result in an undue hardship. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new levels of scrutiny to this law, as many employees requested religious exemptions to vaccination requirements. Employers were caught between enforcing state mandates and granting accommodation requests.

Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a case where a group of Washington State firefighters sued their employer for failing to accommodate their vaccine