During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of employers agreed to provide religious-based exemptions from vaccine mandates to employees on the condition that they regularly test for the virus. In some cases, those workers then raised objections to the alternative requirement, claiming that their religious beliefs also precluded them from participating in such tests. Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals joined other federal courts in finding no adequate basis to support a claim of religious discrimination under Title VII.

In Bowlin v. Judah Christian School, the employer agreed to provide the plaintiffs with religious exemptions to Illinois’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate. When informed that they would need to undergo weekly testing, the plaintiffs cited unspecified moral objections to testing they viewed as medically unnecessary. The employer eventually terminated the plaintiffs who filed suit, alleging violation of their Title VII rights.

The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs never identified any religious belief or practice that prohibited their participation in COVID-19 testing. They cited a general “moral conscience” objection, but they could not tie this to any professed religious beliefs such as those cited as the basis for the vaccine exception.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s loosening of the legal standard for proving religious discrimination claims, federal courts have been more willing to scrutinize employees’ professed religious basis for the accommodation request. In some situations, the plaintiffs could not demonstrate that their religion required the accommodation. In others, the courts concluded that the request was based on personal, political, or health concerns. When facing claims of religious discrimination, employers are entitled to ask for a reasonable explanation of the spiritual basis for the accommodation request and to deny such request when it is made for non-religious reasons.

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