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Articles Posted in Religion

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Believe It Or Not: Atheists Can Have Religious Discrimination Claims Too

Religious discrimination laws protect more than just those who attend church, temple, or mosque. Did you know that they also protect those who don’t subscribe to any religious belief at all? A recent lawsuit in Colorado alleges that atheists, too, can face workplace discrimination—and that’s just as unlawful as treating…

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No Sanctuary from Title VII: Judge Rejects Religious Defenses in Transgender Firing Case

“We are terminating you for ‘denying biological and chromosomal sex assigned at birth.’” That’s what a transgender woman alleges HR told her when she was fired from her job at a religious university. In response, she sued for sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.…

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What should employers do if they doubt the sincerity of an employee’s religious beliefs? NOT THIS!

Suppose an employee, an adherent of a religion you’ve never heard of, requests time off from work on certain religious observance days. The EEOC has some advice for employers: Because the definition of religion is broad and protects beliefs, observances, and practices with which the employer may be unfamiliar, the…

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Do we have to hire the best candidate for the job … if they have a visible Swastika tattoo?

I’ve read this post and this post about this recent lawsuit about seven current and former employees who claim they were forced to work with ‘Nazi sympathizers.’ They allege that the company hired and promoted a white employee with a swastika tattoo on his face and ties to a white…

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An employer that supposedly instructed employees to pray away COVID-19 now must face religious discrimination claims.

Colloquially, today’s topic is “reverse religious discrimination.” But, more accurately, it’s about a claim of “religious nonconformity.” In plain English, what happens when an employee refuses to comply with their employer’s religion? The case involves a video editor who started working for a company in 2019. At first, things were…

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Must employers excuse workers with strong religious beliefs from respect-in-the-workplace training covering LGBT topics

After taking a few days off and rocking out in Seattle, I’m back to blogging about employment law. 🤘🤘🤘 Today, we pull back the curtain and reveal how the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will address failure-to-accommodate claims under the Supreme Court’s new religious accommodation standard established last year in…

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Are we seeing a trend? More judges aren’t falling for spurious COVID-19 religious accommodation claims.

Earlier this week, I wrote about a judge calling out an employee for trying to cast a personal choice to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 as some deeply religious decision. Last night, I read another recent opinion from a federal judge who called an employee trying to avoid a mandatory vaccination requirement…