Workplaces Evaluate How to Handle Vaccine Requirements, Exemptions

New vaccine requirements for some employees in California mean workplaces may need to answer tough questions about how to handle religious exemptions.

"The rule is that the employers must make reasonable accommodations for sincere religious beliefs," said Leslie Gielow Jacobs, a professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

However, she pointed out it would be tough for an employer to determine if a belief is religious or if it is sincere.

"I think most employers won’t question the sincerity or the religious nature of the exemption, but what we do need to emphasize is that it’s not a 'get out of jail free' card. What it is, is a requirement that the employer provide a reasonable accommodation," Jacobs said.

That accommodation could include allowing employees to take regular COVID-19 tests instead. Whatever the accommodation may be, Jacobs said it cannot be something that causes undue hardship to the employer.

"If we’ve got employees who have a front-facing job where they have to see people, it would more than a minimal burden to put them in a non-front-facing position and an employer probably would not be required to do that," she said.

Even if an employee refuses to take the shot based on religious beliefs, they do not necessarily need a letter from a church to qualify for an exemption and some employees may not need to give a reason at all.

For instance, while California is requiring people who work in transitional kindergarten through grade 12 schools to show proof of vaccination, the health order does not require a religious exemption letter for those who do not. Anyone who does not show proof of vaccination is just automatically required to regularly test for COVID-19.

The health order for health care workers is different though. It is a vaccine requirement that calls for an employee refusing to take the shot because of religious beliefs to sign a declination form.

KCRA reached out to major health care providers in Sacramento to see how they plan to handle religious exemptions. Dignity Health said it is still evaluating that. Kaiser and Sutter Health referred us to the California Department of Public Health, and the health department did not answer our questions.

---

Source: KCRA

---