United Airlines has granted religious exemptions to a small number of employees, but the reasonable accommodation the airline has provided is to put the employees on indefinite unpaid leave without regular benefits.

The NBA recently denied a religious exemption request from Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, announcing that the athlete will not be able to play at any home games in San Francisco, which has a vaccine mandate for large indoor events, until he fulfills the city's vaccination requirements. The NBA has announced the following: /6t1spKMU35- NBA Communications September 24, 2021 Their objections were largely based on the employees' beliefs that vaccines that used fetal cells in research, testing or production should not be put in their bodies. In Conway, Ark., Matt Troup, CEO of Conway Regional Health System, has granted 45 religious exemptions to employees who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine. What one employer deems to be reasonable, another may not. What's reasonable when it comes to a reasonable accommodation? It does not have to be the accommodation requested by the employee. If the employer determines the belief is not sincere, it may deny the exemption request.īut even if an employee's religious belief is determined to be sincere, it's the employer who decides what the reasonable accommodation will be. They may ask questions about that employee's vaccination history or church attendance. The Coronavirus Crisis 'Love your neighbor' and get the shot: White evangelical leaders push COVID vaccinesįirst, employers may probe whether an employee's religious belief is in fact sincere. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers must provide reasonable accommodations for workers who have sincerely held religious beliefs - unless doing so poses an undue hardship. The right to request a religious exemption stems from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects workers from discrimination on the basis of religion, among other things. What are employer obligations to workers when it comes to religious exemptions? Under the law, employers have a lot of discretion when granting religious exemptions. Already, some employers are taking a harder line than others. How many of those requests will ultimately be approved is unknown. In Los Angeles, roughly a quarter of the police department is expected to seek religious exemptions. In Washington, D.C., more than 400 fire and emergency medical workers applied for religious exemptions to the city's vaccine mandate. More and more employers are ordering workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 without the option of getting tested instead. John the Divine in New York City sits empty as the rush for vaccinations winds down in June. The waiting area of a pop-up vaccination site at the Cathedral of St.

Vaccine exemption religious letter