Return to Work: Employer-Mandated COVID-19 Vaccination Policies and Accommodating Employee Disabilities and Religious Beliefs
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers attempting to enforce safety policies faced resistance from employees opposed to vaccination mandates. In many cases, employees claimed that taking the vaccine violated...more
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word derived from the Aramaic ḥuṣpāh. It means impudence, gall, and an audacious disregard for rules. In the world of employment law, it can aptly describe employees who try to get what they want...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer worked diligently to develop safe and effective vaccines. Following the FDA’s approval of these vaccines, many state governments and private...more
In Part One of this two-part bulletin, we explored the expansive meaning of religious beliefs entitled to an accommodation under Title VII and the reluctance of courts to second guess whether a belief is “religious” in...more
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case I blogged about in January. The case is about what standard of "undue hardship" should apply in religious accommodation cases. Under every...more
On March 1, 2023 a precedential panel decision was issued in Rogowski v. Kirven. They are the parents of O.K. who is nine years old. The couple divorced in 2018 and mom remarried. From 2018 until August 2020 they shared week...more
Decisions, decisions. Can you require that your employees get a COVID-19 vaccine, and if you do, can you make the employees tell you their vaccination status? This is not an easy answer and may be more complicated given the...more
Every employer who employs at least 100 employees is anxiously awaiting the decision from the United States Supreme Court on OSHA’s Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). One thing that cannot be avoided...more
The federal government recently issued guidance to agencies on implementing Executive Order 14042, the White House COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal employees and federal contractors. However, many questions remain...more
On October 25, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 guidance with the addition of Section L to address employer obligations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and religious...more
Yesterday, OSHA released its emergency COVID-19 vaccination rule. Under the rule, employers with over 100 employees must implement a policy by December 5th requiring all employees to either be vaccinated or to undergo regular...more
At long last, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to take certain...more
In the past several months there has been a flurry of Executive Orders and other legally binding rules regarding vaccine mandates. Standing first and above the rest are the Executive Order by the Biden Administration...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 28, 2021, an amendment to the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act passed the Illinois General Assembly and made its way to Governor Pritzker’s desk. The amendment creates a COVID-19...more
As anticipation grows for OSHA’s release of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for larger employers, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado rejected an unvaccinated United Airlines employee’s attempt to...more
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new guidance and questions and answers regarding COVID-19 issues confronting employers and employees. The EEOC’s Technical Assistance is...more
Vaccine case law is developing rapidly on virtually a daily basis. Recent key decisions include...more
The DE OFCCP Week in Review (WIR) is a simple, fast and direct summary of relevant happenings in the OFCCP regulatory environment, authored by experts John C. Fox, Candee Chambers and Jennifer Polcer. In today’s edition, they...more
On October 25, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding a brand-new section addressing religious objections to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. ...more
On Oct. 25, 2021 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidance for resolving religious objections to COVID-19 workplace vaccination mandates. This guidance comes at a time when many employees are...more
Over the last several weeks, employers, in tandem with their legal counsel, have been grappling in good faith with religious exemption requests pouring in following the imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The analysis...more
On October 25, 2021, the EEOC updated—again—its COVID-related “What You Should Know” technical assistance webpage. (See post regarding previous revisions.) This time, the EEOC added a handful of Q&As regarding religious...more
What You Should Know: •The latest EEOC guidance explains how Title VII applies when an applicant or employee requests exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement because of the individual’s sincerely held religious...more
On October 25, 2021, as more employers adopt workplace vaccination requirements for their employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance concerning requiring COVID-19 vaccinations in...more
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 Technical Assistance Questions and Answers publication to provide additional guidance for employers on handling employee religious...more