Siri & Glimstad’s Allison Lucas and Aaron Siri analyze the role Title VII should play when employers review requests for religious exemption from vaccine boosters. They say employees who demonstrate sincerely held religious beliefs are entitled to accommodation. Employers that mandate a Covid-19 vaccine booster may be hasty to deny a religious exemption request from an employee who complied with an initial mandate. However, doing so may run afoul of federal and state law, creating liability for employers. No exception in Title VII permits employers to automatically deny an accommodation request to a booster mandate because the employee received the initial series of that same vaccine. Instead, employers must process requests for religious accommodations according to the requirements of Title VII, regardless if the request seeks to exempt a booster mandate. Thus, employees who demonstrate that taking the booster violates their sincerely held religious beliefs or practices are entitled to reasonable accommodation, even where they have received the initial series of the same vaccine. Burden of Proof In demonstrating a sincerely held religious belief, as noted in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s compliance manual, “The Supreme Court has made it clear that it is not a court’s role to […]
