“When it comes to vaccines against childhood diseases, where the danger did not seem great or immediate, many groups have just taken people’s word for it if they say their religious views prevent vaccination,” he wrote.īut today, as communities struggle to contain the spread of the delta variant and protect medically vulnerable people, including children, some companies are rethinking their past permissiveness. Before the pandemic, such an approach didn’t feel that risky, Laycock noted. This hesitancy helps explain why some employers approve all or nearly all requests for religious exemptions to vaccine mandates. “Many employers and governments alike have been reluctant to challenge religious exemption claims,” Laycock wrote. However, few company leaders have taken this approach, at least in part because doing so would break political and business norms. Laycock believes that, under current precedent, employers could make a successful case against offering any religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. How the military will handle religious exemptions to vaccine mandates “The Supreme Court has interpreted undue hardship to mean anything more than a minimal expense, meaning employers don’t need a reason anywhere near as strong” as what the government needs to deny religious liberty claims, he said. The mandate is directly affecting my religious beliefs.’ And that’s it,” said Brittany Watson, a nurse who received a religious exemption from the health system she works for in Virginia, to NPR.Īlthough federal law offers some workplace religious freedom protections, it does not require employers to approve every faith-based accommodation request.Ĭompany leaders can turn down requests that would pose an “undue hardship” on the business or other staff members, wrote legal scholar Doug Laycock for The Conversation last month. The vaccine is made from aborted fetuses. The Bible tells you that your body is a temple. “My explanation was that ‘Human life is sacred. Fetal cells are not present in the actual vaccines. Religious objectors to COVID-19 vaccines often express concern about the use of fetal cells in their development. Such requests have piled up this fall despite the fact that faith leaders from a variety of traditions support vaccination. But employers these days are increasingly asking questions about both as they respond to requests for religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Religion and politics are typically taboo topics in the workplace.
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