On Thursday, April 7, 2022, Andrew J. Sommer and Lindsay A. DiSalvo presented a webinar regarding Religious and Disability Accommodations in Response to COVID-19 Mandates.

Employee requests for medical and/or religious accommodations in the workplace are not new. However, never before have these accommodation requests been such a hot-button topic, nor have these accommodation requests been used so frequently (and in particular, religious accommodation requests). The imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates has changed that, particularly with regard to religious accommodation requests, which has become the ultimate “gray area,” as both employers and employees alike have learned that sincerely held religious belief can include an employee’s religious-based objection to vaccinations. As a result, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has issued guidance regarding the obligations of employers under Title VII when an employee presents with a religious objection to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, which actually builds upon prior EEOC guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations in the employment context. Thus, there are multiple issues that employers need to keep in mind and juggle when addressing these vaccination accommodation requests.

Participants in this webinar learned how to best deal with such requests by their employees, including:

• Tips for determining whether an employee has a sincerely held religious belief under Title VII or a disability under the ADA
• How to legitimately assess whether the proposed accommodation poses a direct threat to your organization
• Factors to understand as to whether the accommodation would be considered an “undue hardship”
• Reminders on how to initiate and participate in the interactive process
• Analysis of most recent EEOC guidance on this topic

This program was valid for 1.00 PDCs for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM.

We are pleased to share these links to a copy of the slides and a recording of the webinar.

If you would like to be registered for the entire 2022 series, click here to send us an email request and we will get you registered.

This was the 4th webinar event in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s 2022 OSHA Webinar Series.  Click here to view our full schedule and detailed program descriptions for all of the webinars scheduled for the 2022 OSHA Webinar Series.

If you missed any of our past webinars in our annual OSHA Webinar Series, view our OSHA Webinar Library to access of our webinar recordings. Also, click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel and get an email notification when new recordings become available.