New memo instructs federal agencies to ‘adopt generous approach’ in granting religious accommodations allowing remote work

Preserving religious liberty is more important than sending federal workers back to the office, according to a new memo directed to the heads of executive departments and agencies by the U.S. Office of  Personnel Management.

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Groff v. DeJoy, the memo issues guidance “applicable to all employees in the Executive Branch who have personal religious beliefs requiring accommodations… .” It says:

In accordance with applicable law and the Groff clarification of the “undue hardship” standard, agencies are encouraged to adopt the use of various types of leave and workforce flexibilities as religious accommodations… .

 

… [A]gencies are strongly encouraged, where feasible, to consider telework as a reasonable accommodation for religious practices, such as Sabbath or holiday observance, scheduled prayers, services, meditation, fasting, or other religious obligations. Telework can enable employees to fulfill religious duties without compromising agency missions.

The announcement comes on the heels of the administration’s admonition to all federal workers to return to in-person work unless “excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason.” This latest guidance establishes religious accommodation as an important basis for allowing federal employees to work remotely, and it encourages agencies to “adopt a generous approach to approving religious accommodations.”

The guidance emphasizes the Supreme Court’s decision in Groff, which  involved a part-time mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, Gerald Groff, who was denied a religious accommodation not to work on his Sabbath, which is Sunday. The Court released a unanimous decision on June 29, 2023, clarifying the standard for religious accommodation cases. The decision said, “Title VII requires an employer that denies a religious accommodation to show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”

BJC, which joined a brief encouraging the Court to overturn its previous stringent standard, praised the Groff decision for adopting an interpretation more consistent with the language and intent of this civil rights protection for religion. Here’s part of the statement from BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman on the ruling:

Providing workplaces free from religious discrimination requires all businesses to consider how some religious observances conflict with general work rules and business operations. The statute requires religious accommodations that protect workers without undue harm to business. This decision clarifies that the statute means what it says.

Groff applies to the federal government too, as this latest memo makes clear.  It also clarifies that a policy designed to bring federal workers back to a brick-and-mortar workplace is less important than preserving the religious freedom of all Americans guaranteed in the Constitution. When working remotely is necessary for a religious observance and can be allowed without “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business,” such an arrangement should be facilitated.