The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that when an employee cannot comply with a work requirement for religious reasons, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires the employer to propose a specific accommodation (or be prepared to prove undue hardship), because merely offering a process to explore ideas isn’t good enough. A worker who needs a religious accommodation has a duty to cooperate, but not until the employer makes the first move by proposing a concrete solution. An employer’s proposal is reasonable only if it eliminates the conflict between the religious belief and the job requirement, and it reasonably preserves the employee’s pay and other employment conditions. Interestingly, the court also noted that the concept of an interactive process to explore accommodations comes from Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations; it doesn’t have anything to do with the religious accommodation process under Title VII.
The case arose when the state of Washington required its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and some employees refused to do so because of sincerely held religious beliefs. Employees in jobs requiring face-to-face interactions received letters stating that they couldn’t remain in their positions; that reassignment opportunities might be available on a limited basis; and to contact HR if they wanted to discuss reassignment. A handful of these employees sued; most didn’t bother to attempt reassignment and the one employee who did was offered a job at half the pay (which he didn’t take). The state blamed the employees for not pursuing reassignment, but the Ninth Circuit said a jury should decide whether the state’s letter met the Title VII standards for a true offer of reasonable accommodation of a religious belief (Cherry v. Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, 9th Cir, Aug. 2026).
Tips: One of the most common religious accommodation requests is a change of schedule to allow for observation of religious practices or holy days. An applicant has no duty to disclose these religious beliefs when applying for a job (and if they do, it can complicate the hiring process because of the need to avoid the appearance of religious discrimination).
The only valid reason to deny a reasonable accommodation for a religious belief under Title VII is an undue hardship to the business. As we previously reported, the U.S. Supreme Court has described undue hardship as incurring “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business” which “means that the requisite burden, privation, or adversity must rise to an ‘excessive’ or ‘unjustifiable’ level.” See our Legal Guide, Religious Accommodation in the Workplace, and our Model Form, Religious Accommodation Request, and members, contact your Vigilant Law Group employment attorney with any specific questions.
