Supreme Court Ruling Means Employers Should Be More Careful About Handling Religious Accommodations

As labor policy experts at the law firm Kelley Drye have explained, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling modified the legal standard that courts must use to determine when an employer must grant a religious accommodation. The decision potentially could “expand the universe of accommodations that employers will have to consider and agree to,” Kelley Drye said.

Federal law has long-required employers to provide applicants and employees with a “reasonable accommodation” from employment obligations that may conflict with religious beliefs or practices. “Reasonable” has been interpreted to mean any accommodation that does not impose undue hardship on an employer. (Most courts held any religious accommodation that produced a “more than a de minimis cost” would not need to be granted, for example.)

Under the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, that standard changes.

In its ruling, the justices said in order to deny a religious accommodation, an employer must show “the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs” for the business. The justices explained that means employers must now consider:

• The particular accommodations at issue;
• Their practical impact of the accommodation in light of the nature, size, and operating cost of an employer; and
• The availability of alternative means of accommodating the employee’s religious beliefs and request for accommodation.

To comply with the Supreme Court’s new standard, Kelley Drye offered several recommendations to employers, including to:

• Be more cautious when denying a request for religious accommodation and do not question employees’ religious beliefs;
• Avoid blanket rules and consider each request independently;
• Document every decision, particularly denials for accommodation;
• Train front-line managers so they do not make a judgement without knowing the legal standards and ask managers to contact HR any time a religious accommodation is raised;
• Consider not just the total amount of money an accommodation will cost, but other soft costs that may not be measurable in dollars and document these costs; and
• Engage in an interactive process of communication with every employee who makes a request, and respond to each request in writing — again, especially if that decision is a denial.

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