Sweeping new vaccine warrants could force millions to inject COVID-19 vaccines, but people with serious religious beliefs or disabilities who interfere with inoculation may be exempt from receiving stings.
It is new territory for many employers navigating the issue, as it is a risky proposition to allow unvaccinated employees to mingle and possibly infect colleagues in the workplace.
Many large corporations they already require the COVID-19 vaccine to protect employees from the virus and, under the American Disability Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, offer exemptions to people with disabilities or “sincere” religious beliefs that prevent them from getting vaccinated.
The Biden administration comprehensive prevention measures announced on Thursday to further expand vaccine mandates, affecting approximately 100 million Americans and shedding new light on exemption claims and how employers can verify their legitimacy.
No major religious denomination in the United States directly opposes vaccination. But a person’s “sincerely held” religious belief does not have to be part of an organized religion mandate to be considered a valid reason for the vaccine exemption.
“It can be a personal and sincere religious belief that arises from the very nature of freedom of religion articulated in the First Amendment,” said Domenique Camacho Moran, a labor lawyer at New York-based law firm Farrell Fritz.
It’s worth taking a second look
In the past, employers have been inclined to offer workers the benefit of the doubt and to accept any genuine request based on religious beliefs. But given the nature of the coronavirus, they are now taking a second look at these requests.
“The employer in general must go with the idea that the employee’s request is based on his sincere religious belief. But if the employer has an objective basis for questioning his sincerity, the employer is justified in seeking additional information, “said Keith Wilkes, a labor lawyer at Till Hall, Oklahoma.
“It is always possible for a local church or temple to actually defend the view that vaccination is contrary to religious beliefs, so there is room for the employer to delve deeper into such requests,” Wilkes said.
Applying for disability exemptions, on the other hand, is usually simpler.
Clear documentation from a physician or health care provider about a disease that makes vaccination dangerous or unsafe usually eliminates questions about whether an employee has valid reasons for exemption or simply does not want to be vaccinated. No known medical condition absolutely prevents a person from being vaccinated, but a worker could be exempt from COVID vaccine demand if, for example, he or she has a known allergy to the vaccine components.
“With most accommodation problems for the disabled, we automatically involve a third party. There is a medical provider who explains the disability that prevents this employee from being vaccinated,” Camacho Moran said.
Employment attorneys encourage people to apply for religious exemptions on vaccination warrants to document their beliefs in writing. But even with written documentation, the process of determining employers can be murky.
“It’s not as clear as the medical exemption. The key is that even the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not given the best indications on how to determine what sincerely held religious belief is,” he said. say Sadie Banks, Deputy General Counsel and Human Resource Consultant for Engage PEO, a provider of human resources and benefits.
What is clear is that when an employee submits a request for exemption, the employer must maintain a two-way dialogue to determine whether the employee’s request can be met.
“Entrepreneurs have yet to participate in the interactive process to determine what the practice involves and another person’s belief is sincere or not,” Banks said. “But I can’t tell you that what you sincerely consider to be a religious belief doesn’t exist, so it’s a potential challenge.”
They are no longer “few and distant”
Most labor attorneys agree that there is a lot of legal area when it comes to claiming and approving religion-based vaccine exemption applications.
“I don’t think anyone is 100% clear. The EEOC’s view on sincerely held religious belief is that employers should not challenge the sincerity of the belief,” said Jason Reisman, co-chair of the internship group. and Blank Rome Labor. .
Before the pandemic, employers asked few questions about people’s religious beliefs, for example, if an employee asked not to work on a holy day.
“Before vaccination warrants, I think religious accommodations were scarce and generally related to things that didn’t force employers to ask too many questions. It was more about working on the Saturday of your religion,” Reisman said.
But in the era of COVID-19, and with the rise of the more contagious and virulent Delta variant, employers are asking deeper questions: “They are increasingly brazen in asking for supporting information, like a note from a leader religious “. “Said Reisman.”
Just saying, “I believe in God, I can’t get vaccinated” won’t fly either, according to Carrie Hoffman, a Foley & Lardner labor lawyer. “There has to be some kind of explanation that’s better than that,” he said.
The problem is already spreading to jobs across the country. United Airlines recently rejected requests from several employees for religious exemptions from the airline’s vaccine mandate. The airline said that in most cases, employees who refuse to get vaccinated will not be able to enter the workplace as of October 2.
Biden’s requirement for companies is a kind of soft mandate, meaning that it must require employees to be vaccinated or to undergo periodic COVID-19 testing. Periodic testing can serve as accommodation that employers can provide to workers who do not want to be vaccinated for any reason, religious or otherwise.
In the case of companies that directly choose to administer the vaccine, employees will apply for their exemption because of personal preference or distrust of the government or pharmaceutical companies, for example.
“It can’t be against my religion,” Wilkes said. “It’s still a broad standard and it has to be a sincere belief and not just subterfuge because you don’t trust science.”