Religious Accommodations after Groff v Dejoy, A Guide for Southern Employers

A Pew Research poll showed that 83% of adults in the South consider religion important in their lives, the highest percentage in any region of the country. This means that employers in the South are more likely to receive requests to accommodate an employee’s religion such as time off to attend services. For many years, an employer’s burden to accommodate a religious belief or practice was slight or de minimis. The Supreme Court changed that paradigm in Groff v. DeJoy holding that the de minimis standard was too low and that employers must reasonably accommodate employee’s beliefs and practices unless doing so would result in “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” This session will explore how to consider requested accommodations under this new holding.