In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Groff v. DeJoy, employers may expect an increase in religious accommodation requests, the implications of which may create conflict in the workplace. The Court's decision also places a higher burden on employers to grant religious accommodation requests from employees, some of which may conflict with employers' burden to prevent discrimination against other employees and their obligation to maintain workplace safety standards.
Constangy partner, Robin Shea, recently spoke to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on strategies employers can use to approach religious accommodations requests.
"Have a procedure in place for handling religious accommodation requests and make sure they go to HR," says Robin. "HR can consult with the employee's managers and supervisors about whether the requested accommodation is feasible."
Robin Shea is a partner out of Constangy's Winston-Salem office who focuses a portion of her practice on counseling employers on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as similar state laws. She is also editor in chief of Constangy’s legal bulletins and its four law blogs: Affirmative Action Alert, California Snapshot, Cyber Advisor, and Employment & Labor Insider.
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