Employers will need to prove religious accommodations inflict substantial costs before denying them The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that employers can only deny an employee’s request for a religious accommodation under federal law if they can prove it would result in substantial increased costs for the business. In a unanimous decision on June 29 in Groff v. DeJoy , the court emphasized that the hardship must be a substantial—rather than minimal—cost for an employer to deny an accommodation request. It sent the case back to lower courts for further review. "A good deal of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance in this area is sensible and will likely be unaffected by the court’s clarifying decision," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion. Nevertheless, "this is a very significant result, as this is the first time in more than four decades that the Supreme Court has addressed the issue of accommodation of religious beliefs in the workplace," said Joseph Beachboard, an attorney with Beachboard Consulting Group in Los Angeles. "Religious discrimination claims are one of the hottest growth areas in employment law today." Background Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers must reasonably accommodate all […]
