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1 1 (May 18, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelrb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: S Congressional ______ ~ ~Research Service Supreme Court Considers Religious Accommodations in the Workplace May 18, 2023 Recent Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religion and Speech Clauses of the First Amendment have strengthened protections for religious activity. The Court has now taken up the question of what constitutes religious discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Groff v. DeJoy presents the Court with the opportunity to reconsider long-standing precedent regarding requests for religious accommodations in the workplace. Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate their workers' religious needs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business. In 1977, the Supreme Court declared in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison that an accommodation creates an undue hardship when it imposes more than a de minimis cost. Some members of the Court, other federal judges, the executive branch, and commentators have critiqued the de minimis standard as wrongly interpreting Title VII's text and inadequately protecting workers' religious rights, particularly those of workers practicing minority faiths. In Groff, the Court has granted certiorari to consider what showing employers must make to reject a religious accommodation request; in other words, what is undue hardship? The issues in the case are mainly statutory, and Congress has broad latitude within constitutional boundaries to define when employers must accommodate employees' religious practices. This Sidebar reviews Title VII's religious accommodation provision and the Court's interpretation of it, the issues currently before the Court in Groff, and considerations for Congress. Legal Background Title VII prohibits employers with at least 15 employees from discriminating against employees and applicants on the basis of religion, as well as race, color, sex, and national origin. (Along with private employers, Title VII applies to most federal executive employers, and the Congressional Accountability Act applies it to most federal legislative employers.) Religious discrimination includes the failure to reasonably accommodate an employee or job applicant's religious observance or practice, unless the employer can show that accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business. An accommodation is a change in the employer's policies, practices, or the work environment to allow an employee to engage in a religious practice or observance. Congress did not define undue hardship or conduct of the business. It has not amended this portion of Title VII since its enactment. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10966 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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