Quiz #99 Is common sense employed to determine an "undue hardship" under Title VII?

True or False: In the context of Title VII, whether a requested religious accommodation creates an “undue hardship” should be determined by the court applying a common-sense test inquiring whether the hardship is substantial in the context of the employer’s business. 

 

(Scroll down for the answer)

 

Answer: True.  Here’s what the Supreme Court said in that regard. 

 

What is most important is that “undue hardship” in Title VII means what it says, and courts should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context of an employer's business in the common-sense manner that it would use in applying any such test.

 

Groff v. DeJoy, 143 S. Ct. 2279, 2296, 216 L. Ed. 2d 1041 (2023)

  

Disclaimer: The Religion Law Quizzes are provided as a service to you. They are intended only for educational purposes. Nothing in the Quizzes is intended to be legal advice and they should not be relied upon as conclusive on any issue discussed therein.

 

HERE IS AN AI GENERATED SUMMARY OF TODAY’S PODCAST

 

Welcome to this episode of Religion Law Podcast, your go-to place for understanding religious freedom and legal issues related to religion through a unique, interactive quiz-based format. In this episode, we delve into the world of religious accomodation at work. We unfold how courts understand these accommodations and what determines if such accommodations could be an undue hardship for the employers within the Title VII context, all inspired by the Supreme Court's 2023 Graf v. DeJoy decision.

Your host, Michael Fielding starts with a fun trivia recalling his favorite college football player, Jason Buck, to set a lighter tone. Soon after, we move to the serious territory of Title VII - a hot topic in religion law. You'll be presented with a true or false quiz about whether a common sense test can be applied by a court to identify if a religious accommodation request involves significant hardship in correlation to an employer's business.

Find out the Supreme Court's perspective on this matter and understand what this practically implies for employees seeking religious accommodation and for employers trying to balance accommodating employee rights and running their businesses effectively. Also, let Michael clear your doubts about how big of an 'undue hardship' is 'too big' and when is it considered enough to exempt the employers from providing the accommodation.

However, remember this episode, though informative, doesn't substitute for legal advice as Michael is a guide through these legal waters and not an employment attorney.

Stay with us till the end where Michael also suggests the possibility of diving deep into Title VII in the future episodes. Stay tuned for the next milestone episode - the 100th quiz of the series! Share this episode if you find it helpful and leave a review. Continue being an influential force!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to another episode of the Religion Law Podcast, where you learn about
religious freedom and other religion law-related topics through a short question-and-answer format.
I'm your host, Michael Fielding.
Let's see how you do on today's quiz.
Welcome to Religion Law Quiz number 99, numero noventa y nueve.

(00:25):
All right, this is completely trivial just to start out.
It has nothing to do with the podcast, but I'll just put it out there for fun.
When I was a kid, it would have been about 1984, 1985, somewhere in that vicinity.
And I was in fourth grade in 1984 and fifth grade in 1985.

(00:48):
I had a favorite college football player, a guy by the name of Jason Buck.
And I actually think he won the Outland Trophy, if I remember correctly.
And his number was number 99. And I thought that was super cool at the time.
The quiz for you is who did Jason Buck play for? All right, that has nothing to do with today's quiz.

(01:09):
And that is not the quiz, but a little bit of trivia just because 99 is a cool number.
All right, so today's quiz for quiz number 99, numero noventa y nueve,
is a true or false question.
And again, we're dealing with this in the context of the Supreme Court's 2023 Graf v.
DeJoy decision. So, true or false, in the context of Title VII,

(01:32):
whether a requested religious accommodation creates an undue hardship should
be determined by the court applying a common sense test inquiring whether the
hardship is substantial in the context of the employer's business.
I'm going to read that one more time so you can deeply ponder this question

(01:53):
and see if you can get it right. Right, so true or false.
In the context of Title VII, whether a requested religious accommodation creates
an undue hardship should be determined by the court applying a common sense
test inquiring whether the hardship is substantial in the context of the employer's business.
Well, the answer is true.

(02:14):
And here's what the Supreme Court said in that regard.
Quote, what is most important is that undue hardship in Title VII means what it says,
and courts should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context
of an employer's business in the common sense manner that it would use in applying any such test.

(02:42):
Close quote. So what are the practical takeaways or practical meaning here?
Well, the Supreme Court is saying that if you as an employee go to your employer
and say, hey, you know, I have my religion, my faith, and the job requirements
are creating a problem for me.
It's creating a challenge for me, and I'd like to see if you can make an accommodation

(03:08):
for me so I can practice my faith and keep my job, too.
Then the question for the employer is going to be whether or not that's going
to create an undue hardship for the employer if the employer does the accommodation.
And so how do you answer that question? Well, you just have to use a common sense approach,

(03:31):
like the Supreme Court is saying here, excuse me, and ask if that would satisfy the test.
And again, just to read the quote from the Supreme Court, what is most important
is that undue hardship in Title VII means what it says,
and court should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context

(03:53):
of the employer's business in the common sense manner that would use in employing any such test.
So the court basically says, hey, all right, if this person is asking for this
accommodation, is that going to create...
A really big undue hardship for the employer? And if the answer is yes,
then the employer doesn't need to give the accommodation.

(04:14):
But if the answer is no, it's not an undue hardship, then guess what?
The employer under Title VII needs to provide the accommodation.
Now, I'm going to say up front, I am not an employment attorney.
I don't swim in these waters.
I only talk about these waters. And there's obviously a lot more that goes into

(04:36):
this. There's more details and exceptions.
But what we're doing here on the Religion Law Quiz is giving you kind of a high-level perspective.
And I guess, you know, that's something to consider for a possible future Religion
Law Quizzes would be doing more of a deep dive into Title VII,
because I think that then becomes important to a lot of people that are out there.

(05:00):
And it would be worthy of discussion.
So I'll make the mental note if, you know, if we get down the road and if we
are doing more religion law quizzes, you know, that would be an area fruitful for delving into.
All right, well, that does it for today's quiz. I will see you on the next religion law quiz.
Next religion law quiz will be number 100, a big one.

(05:22):
All right, I will talk to you later.
Thank you for listening to today's episode. Remember, religion law quizzes are
for educational purposes only and are not intended to be relied upon as legal advice.
If you have found this episode to be helpful, please share it and leave a review.

(05:42):
Until we meet again, keep being an influence for.
Music.