Schaerr | Jaffe Successfully Represents UT-Battelle Employee Discriminated Against for Refusing to Get Covid Vaccine

The Sixth Circuit has ruled in favor of Jeff Bilyeu, a UT-Battelle employee who was discriminated against for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine based on religious grounds, rejecting several of the district court’s findings and paving the way for Bilyeu to go to trial.

During the pandemic, UT-Battelle required any employee raising religious objections to the COVID vaccine to submit to a lengthy panel interview with the company’s leadership regarding the employee’s beliefs and required them to read a “fact sheet” that included views of various religious leaders supporting taking the vaccine. Only after completing this process could a religious objector forgo the vaccine, and then, only by being placed on indefinite unpaid leave.

The Sixth Circuit disagreed with the lower court’s conclusion that Bilyeu wasn’t harmed because he was simply not being paid for time he had not worked, finding this holding doesn’t survive the Supreme Court’s decision in Muldrow. It also held that Bilyeu’s Title VII claim can proceed because he was forced to choose between violating his religious beliefs and his workplace policies. Finally, the Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision in Bilyeu’s retaliation claim, finding that the company’s interview process and “fact sheet” could be considered “religious dogma” and harassment by a jury.

“The district court relied on now-abrogated precedent to decide Mr. Bilyeu’s disparate treatment and failure to accommodate claims,” the Sixth Circuit stated in its decision to return the case to district court for trial.

This decision comes after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced an agreement with UT-Battelle to pay $2.8 million to employees denied religious accommodation involving its COVID-19 vaccine policy.

“While COVID-19 vaccine mandates were a novelty, our long-standing civil rights laws remain unchanged—absent an undue hardship, employers must provide reasonable accommodation to its employees for their sincerely held religious beliefs,” said EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas.

A full press release is here.