Appeals Court Clarifies Standard for Religious Accommodation Claims at Work
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit amended its decision on September 15 in Bergin v. New York State Unified Court System, a case brought by a court officer who was placed on leave and then fired after seeking a religious exemption from the state court system's COVID 19 vaccination mandate. The amended ruling clarifies that an employee bringing a failure to accommodate claim under Title VII does not need to prove an employer acted with religious animus, only that avoiding the accommodation was a motivating factor in an adverse decision such as a firing.
The court's original July ruling had raised questions among employment attorneys over whether it created a tougher, animus based standard for these claims. The amended opinion confirms that a discharge on its own can count as the adverse action required to bring a claim, making it somewhat easier for employees to get such cases past an early motion to dismiss. The underlying dispute over whether the officer's firing itself violated the law continues in the lower court.
