Workplace Religious Accommodation and Anti-Discrimination: Mitigating Risk Under Heightened Government Scrutiny
Increased EEOC Litigation and Record-Breaking Settlements; Best Practices for Creating Compliant Policies and Procedures
About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will examine the EEOC's increased focus on religious accommodation, harassment, and claims of religious discrimination in the workplace, including significant enforcement actions and high-value settlements obtained against employers on behalf of employees alleging religious discrimination. The panel will discuss the latest EEOC guidance, address lessons learned from recent enforcement actions, and offer best practices for developing employer policies and procedures that reduce compliance risks and help employers navigate religious accommodation requests.
Description
Since early 2025, the EEOC has increased its focus on religious accommodations and anti-harassment and anti-discrimination measures for religious workers. In recent years, the agency has filed an increased number of religious discrimination lawsuits and negotiated record settlements on behalf of religious workers. Per the EEOC, "in FY 2025 alone, the agency obtained record-breaking recoveries for religious workers (over $48 million), which was a 146% increase over the $19.55 million recovered in FY 2024."
Employers continue to navigate evolving legal standards governing religious accommodation requests. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Groff v. DeJoy clarified that an employer seeking to deny an accommodation based on undue hardship must be able to demonstrate that the accommodation would result in "substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business." Employers must now carefully evaluate accommodation requests and ensure their policies, practices, and decision-making processes align with current legal requirements.
Listen as our authoritative panel examines the current landscape of religious accommodation, harassment, and anti-discrimination law in the workplace. The panel will discuss recent EEOC guidance, notable litigation and settlements, practical compliance considerations, and best practices for mitigating the risk of enforcement actions and private lawsuits.
Presented By
Ms. Eisemann provides proactive legal support to management, leadership and HR professionals to ensure employment practices align with the law and the client's own priorities. Her collaborative approach benefits clients as they implement workplace initiatives and policy changes. Ms. Eisemann also has over a decade of experience representing clients in matters before the EEOC. She has also trained thousands of managers and employees on various topics, including the updates to employment law, reasonable accommodations, avoiding retaliation, successful hiring practices, and addressing harassment. Ms. Eisemann joined Jackson Lewis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel, where she supervised a national team of attorneys responsible for providing legal advice for the entire Department on a broad range of employment, civil rights, and labor law issues. In 2022, the Secretary of Agriculture awarded her USDA's highest honor for her team's legal guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included assisting managers with implementing workplace safety measures, responding to employees' requests for reasonable accommodations and religious accommodations, and navigating the process of holding employees accountable in a remote work environment.
Ms. Wright provides practical business advice based on “best practices” and is a sought-after speaker and trainer on employment law topics. She is active in the firm’s Leave and Accommodation practice group. In that capacity, Ms. Wright acts as a regional and national expert on employee health and leave issues facing employers, including issues arising under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and similar state and local laws, such as the D.C. Sick and Safe Leave Act and Maryland Healthy Working Families Act. She counsels employers daily regarding such employment issues as employee discipline and termination; discrimination and harassment; preparation of employment contracts; drafting personnel policies and handbooks; and investigation of employee misconduct. Ms. Wright is an expert on issues arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and similar state and local laws and is part of her firm’s task force on independent contractor misclassification.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Introduction
A. History of anti-discrimination laws and regulations
B. Current administration actions and guidance
C. Program overview
II. Religious discrimination
A. What counts as "religion?"
B. "Sincerely held" beliefs
C. Representative cases
III. Harassment based on religion
A. General principles
B. Representative cases
IV. Reasonable accommodation
A. Religious accommodation principles
B. Groff v. DeJoy and subsequent cases
V. Best practices
A. Employer policies
B. Handling religious accommodation requests
C. Handling harassment and other complaints
VI. Key takeaways
The panel will review these and other important issues:
- How has the federal government's increased focus on religious discrimination impacted the latest EEOC guidance and recent EEOC litigation and settlements?
- In the current environment, what considerations should counsel and their employer clients keep in mind when developing religious accommodation and anti-discrimination policies?
- What factors should be considered when one employee's request for an accommodation potentially infringes on the rights of another employee to be free of discrimination and harassment?
