Employers seeking to implement policies requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (i.e., vaccine mandates) are generally required to consider requests by employees to waive or modify such policies for religious or disability-related reasons. Private sector employers are required to reasonably accommodate employees under both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (religion) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (disability).
When it comes to using any of the templates issued thus far by the Biden Administration that are ostensibly designed to provide guidance to employers on how to respond to accommodation requests, however, employers may find more questions than answers on how – and perhaps more significantly, whether – they should proceed.
In all, there are four “accommodation” templates that have been issued by the government so far – three by the White House and one by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). While the templates were created primarily to provide federal agencies with guidance respecting their own employees, many private sector employers have also looked to the templates for guidance in handling accommodation requests by their employees. This memo takes a look at and analyzes each.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.