While the EEOC is backing away from enforcing disparate impact and LGBTQ+ claims, it is ramping up its enforcement of religious accommodation claims. A recent settlement with the EEOC emphasizes that while employers may adopt mandatory vaccination policies, employers must assure that such policies comply with Title VII’s requirement to provide a religious accommodation unless it would cause them an undue hardship.
Northwestern Medicine adopted a mandatory flu vaccination policy and awarded employees who obtained the vaccine an annual “vaccine incentive bonus.” Northwestern Medicine employees who had been denied a religious exemption for vaccines filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging that Northwestern Medicine discriminated against them by denying them a reasonable accommodation and the bonus.
Following an investigation, the EEOC and Northwestern Medicine entered into a two-year agreement which required Northwestern Medicine to pay $325,000 in compensatory damages to a class of employees who had been denied religious vaccine exemptions. The agreement also required Northwestern Medicine to “revise its policies, educate staff on their rights in the religious accommodation process, train management who exercise decision-making authority on religious accommodation requests, and report to the EEOC about religious accommodation request denials.” https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/northwestern-medicine-pay-325000-resolve-eeoc-religious-discrimination-charges
