EEOC Finds Discrimination in Denial of Religious Accommodation for COVID Vaccine

A recent EEOC decision found the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Education unlawfully discriminated against three federal employees by denying their requests for religious accommodations to the COVID vaccine mandate issued by President Biden in 2021.

On May 18, the EEOC Office of the Federal Sector issued an appellate decision finding that the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Education—a division of the U.S. Department of Interior—summarily denied these workers’ requests for religious accommodations to be exempt from the mandate.

According to an EEOC statement issued the same day, the decision resolved appeals from three employees at the Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif. Each of the three workers had requested exemption from the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees.

“Citing their sincerely held religious beliefs in the sanctity of human life, informed by their Christian faith, each employee expressed opposition to the use of human fetal cells obtained through abortion in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the statement read.

“The agency denied the requests, claiming that allowing the employees to regularly test and mask in lieu of vaccination would be unsafe and expensive.”

According to the EEOC, the agency failed to present any evidence to support its contention that masking and regular testing would create an unsafe environment.

“Additionally, the agency cost-based objection was found to be deficient once it conceded that the cost of purchasing vaccine testing supplies was underwritten by congressional funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the EEOC said.

According to the EEOC statement, the individual complainants will be compensated for the harm caused by the agency’s actions. The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Education also be required to develop and maintain a “fair and non-adversarial process for employees to pursue religious accommodations in the workplace.”