Can You Get a Religious Exemption From the Covid Vaccine Mandates?

With New York State’s Covid vaccine mandate on healthcare workers kicking into effect this week, many workers are asking whether they can get a religious exemption or accommodation to avoid getting jabbed with a Covid-19 vaccine they don’t want. The devil, in this case, is in the details as some situations will make it harder than others, and much of it will come down to policies set forth by employers, both public and private, as to what kind of documentation or supporting evidence is required to prove that getting vaccinated is against a deeply held religious belief.

Some employers and local governments are requiring a short counseling session to grill applicants over their religious exemption request. Others are simply denying the exemptions if your religious affiliation is one of several major denominations which have not publicly opposed vaccinations for a specific religious reason.

First, off it’s important to define what “religious accommodation” means and where it came from. The law dates back to 1964 as part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers must provide reasonable accommodations for workers who have sincerely held religious beliefs — unless doing so poses an undue hardship.

First, employers may probe whether an employee’s religious belief is in fact sincere. They may ask questions about that employee’s vaccination history or church attendance. If the employer determines the belief is not sincere, it may deny the exemption request.

But even if an employee’s religious belief is determined to be sincere, it’s the employer who decides what the reasonable accommodation will be. It does not have to be the accommodation requested by the employee.

It’s important to note that regardless of what an employee claims, the employer can decide that a request is unreasonable and can simply deny or ignore the request. If the employee thinks the denial is discriminatory, then the issue could end up in litigation.

However, the law is fairly broad for employers to decide how they wish to allow accommodations and what kind of supporting documentation they will require when considering accommodation. After all, if your request for accommodation puts an undue burden on the employer, the employer is within its rights to deny the request.

Employers could decide to simply send you home on unpaid leave for a period of time to accommodate your request of avoiding the vaccination while being at work. Obviously, this is not reasonable from the employee’s perspective, but it’s something that can happen:

Román Hernández, a labor and employment attorney with Troutman Pepper in Portland, Ore., says historically, courts have upheld unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation in religious exemption cases.

“It’s probably not the accommodation that those workers wanted, but that is something that the employer is providing,” Hernández says.

The onus, in the case of Covid-19 accommodation requests, lies with the employee to prove a need for accommodation and relies on the employer to respect that need if it chooses. In many cases currently playing out, however, the requests are being denied. There are some cases, though, where employers fear mass walkouts over forced vaccinations so requests are being granted fairly regularly.

New York City public schools, for example, in an effort to avoid losing teachers, has been granting hundreds of exemptions to staff according to local reports:

More than 500 New York City public school staffers were granted an exemption to the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandate, according to a recent report by the New York Daily News.

As of Friday, the city Department of Education (DOE) granted medical and religious exemptions to 530 staff members for the mandate that requires every employee in public schools to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of September, the media outlet reported.

In another case, the NBA has denied an denied an exemption request from Golden State Warriors player Andrew Wiggins due to San Francisco’s local vaccine mandate:

The NBA has reviewed and denied Andrew Wiggins’ request for religious exemption from the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all participants age 12 and older at large indoor events. Wiggins will not be able to play in Warriors home games until he fulfills the city’s vaccination requirements.

No major recent court cases have yet caused broad changes in employee religious exemption requests, but its possible courts will be forced to address the issue as more and more mandates take effect:

The employer could say no based on the fact that accommodation of one person could potentially expose the workplace to significant health risk from the spread of COVID-19, said Daniel Conkle, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, in an interview with the Indianapolis Star.

“And my sense is, courts would probably agree with the employer in those settings,” Conkle said.

At the heart of many religious accommodation requests is the question of using fetal stem cells in the development of the Covid-19 vaccines. For many individuals, this type of research and development is viewed along the lines of abortion and a misuse of human life, but not all religious leaders are on the same page:

The fact that fetal cell lines have been used in the development of vaccines has been a sticking point for people with certain religious beliefs. Some religious leaders have also cited other reasons for shunning the vaccine, promoting the notion that it is untested or unsafe.

However, a large number of religious leaders have actively promoted the vaccine. The Rev. Robert Jeffress, a major figure in the pro-Trump evangelical community and the leader of the 12,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, recently said there was no credible religious argument against the vaccines, according to Newsweek. Jeffress later told The Associated Press his staff was not providing religious exemptions to church members seeking to avoid the vaccine mandate.

If you are seeking a religious exemption to mandatory Covid vaccination, the best you can do is make your request and hope for a positive outcome. However, in many cases, employers have simply decided that unless there is a truly pressing medical reason, such as the potential for a life-threatening reaction to a vaccine or vaccine ingredient, it’s likely the request will be ignored or denied if not accompanied by a signed letter from your religious denomination or personal doctor.