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Employees are filing a variety of lawsuits that challenge workplace policies and bring sensitive issues like bodily autonomy, respect for others and free expression to the fore.
Religious rights are having a moment.
Intertwined with political issues like the Israel-Hamas war, gender identity and vaccine mandates, employees nationwide are filing a variety of lawsuits that challenge workplace policies and bring sensitive issues like bodily autonomy, respect for others and free expression to the fore.
While the lawsuits detailed below were all private enforcement actions, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken a special interest in religious rights cases this year as well. In August, the agency touted its focus on the issue in the first days of the Trump administration, highlighting religious discrimination lawsuits it had filed relating to vaccine mandates, social media posts, antisemitism on college campuses and more.
“During the previous administration, workers’ religious protections too often took a backseat to woke policies,” Acting Chair Andrea Lucas declared in an agency news release. “Under my leadership, the EEOC is restoring evenhanded enforcement of Title VII — ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paycheck and their faith.”
Employers may see a greater variety of religious bias lawsuits from the agency soon, as EEOC is expected to obtain a quorum if nominated commissioner Brittany Panuccio is confirmed.
Read on below for our coverage of recent religious rights issues gaining traction in the courts.
Separately, the court reversed in part a jury’s finding that Southwest violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Read the full article ➔
A former in-house counsel for Lucid Software alleged that his criticism of policies supported by Equality Utah, an organization that partnered with the company on DEI trainings, cost him his job. Read the full article ➔
The employee alleged he was reprimanded for his comments but that non-Muslims were not disciplined for similarly expressive speech. Read the full article ➔
A university spokesperson told HR Dive that “Stanford takes any allegation of antisemitism very seriously,” but “a thorough investigation” found the allegations to be unsubstantiated. Read the full article ➔
The group’s claims fell short even under the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently revised standard for pleading discrimination, the 10th Circuit held. Read the full article ➔
The teacher, who asked to call all students by their last names rather than use transgender students’ chosen names, prevailed due to the recent heightened standard for religious claims. Read the full article ➔
The group cannot be required “to make accommodations for abortions, contraception, sterilization, artificial reproductive technologies, or surrogacy” in violation of their religious beliefs, the court said. Read the full article ➔
The case is similar to that of another Catholic worker who cited the vaccine’s use of aborted fetal cells in her request for a religious exemption. Read the full article ➔
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Major issues on the agenda include artificial intelligence in the workplace, skills-based hiring, the ever-evolving employment law landscape and more.
Family and Medical Leave Act administration can easily fall by the wayside, despite its status as a bedrock federal employment law under HR’s purview.
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Major issues on the agenda include artificial intelligence in the workplace, skills-based hiring, the ever-evolving employment law landscape and more.
Family and Medical Leave Act administration can easily fall by the wayside, despite its status as a bedrock federal employment law under HR’s purview.
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