February 2026
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. According to EEOC guidance:
“Title VII requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for an applicant or employee whose sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with a work requirement, unless providing the accommodation would create an undue hardship for the employer. The law aims to prevent individuals from being forced to choose between their religious convictions and their jobs.”
The “undue hardship” standard was established by the Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy, a recent case litigated by the Independence Law Center that changed the landscape of religious liberty in the workplace. In Groff, the Court clarified that Title VII prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace and imposes an affirmative duty on employers to reasonably accommodate employees’ religious needs unless the employer can demonstrate that doing so would cause an undue hardship.
EEOC guidance defines a religious accommodation as:
An adjustment to a work requirement that enables an employee to comply with their religious beliefs, which need not align with traditional concepts of religion. The employer’s duty to accommodate generally involves making an exception to or adjustment of a specific work requirement so that the employee or applicant can observe or practice their religion.
Pennsylvania has a similar law, prohibiting an employer of four or more employees from discriminating against an employee on the basis of religion.
Where the employer is a government employer or where an objectionable employment mandate arises from a federal or state law, additional constitutional protections may be applicable under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise of Religion Clause.
Q: How can an employee request religious accommodation?
A: An employee should inform their employer that they need an accommodation for a religious reason. The request does not need to be in writing, and no specific language or “magic words” are required—what matters is that the employer is aware of the need for accommodation. EEOC Guidance.
Q: What is an undue hardship?
A: According to the EEOC Guidance:
An undue hardship arises when the burden of granting an accommodation would be substantial in the overall context of an employer’s business. An undue hardship could include increased costs; reduced productivity; or infringements on other employees’ job rights, such as accommodations that reasonably threaten to create a hostile work environment or create a substantial risk to workplace safety, health, or security. However, coworker objections based on hostility to religion or customer fears or prejudices are not an undue hardship. Whether an accommodation creates an undue hardship depends on the particular facts. For example, if wearing pants when working near a particular type of machine is necessary for safety reasons, an accommodation to allow an employee to wear a loose-fitting skirt for religious reasons while working near that machine may cause undue hardship. While an employer can refuse to provide a particular accommodation if it would pose an undue hardship, employers and employees should confer fully and promptly to explore other available accommodation options.
Q: Does the employer have to agree to the Employee’s suggested alternative work arrangement to accomplish the accommodation?
A: Ideally, the employee and employer should work together to come up with an accommodation that works best for everyone involved while still fully meeting the religious need.
The employer is not required to agree to the exact alternative the employee might request. Often the employer will come up with an alternative work arrangement to carry out the accommodation. If the employee suggests an alternative, the employer can agree to it or make their own so long as it satisfies the religious need. For instance, if an employee’s religious conviction is that they cannot work at their place of employment on their sabbath, the employer could not require an alternative accommodation that only gives them time off for attending church on the sabbath because that would not satisfy the religious need. However, if the employee requests an accommodation to work on Fridays instead of their sabbath, the employer can require the alternative be Thursday instead of Friday. In that fact scenario, even though it is not the exact alternative requested by the employee, it does fully satisfy the religious need to abstain from employment on their sabbath day.
Q: If providing a religious accommodation would upset other employees, would that count as an “undue burden” on my business?
A: No. General coworker resentment or jealousy would not count as an undue burden. Coworkers do not get a veto power over Title VII’s religious accommodation just as they do not get veto power over ADA’s disability accommodation requirements.
