2d Circuit holds Supreme Court has changed the rules for reasonable accommodation cases

The Second Circuit holds that its prima facie test for failure-to-accommodate claims is no longer good law following the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores. The Circuit thus vacated summary judgment entered in favor of a court officer who was fired after refusing to comply with the Unified Court System's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The case is Bergin v. New York State Unified Court System, issued on July 15. Plaintiff wanted a religious exemption from her employer’s vaccination requirement. She asserted religious objections relating to fetal cell lines used to create the vaccine and her own bodily integrity. We saw these kinds of objections on a regular basis during the COVID era. While the state gave plaintiff a questionnaire that would evaluate the sincerity of her religious beliefs, she declined to answer most of the questions on privacy grounds. The court system denied the exemption request and fired plaintiff because she would not accept the vaccine. After the vaccine mandate was rescinded in 2023, plaintiff was reinstated. She then sued under Title VII, claiming the state failed to accommodate her religion. The district court granted summary judgment for plaintiff, a rare occurrence in employment discrimination cases, finding that plaintiff made out a prima facie case as a matter of law and the court system did not prove any undue hardship.

Under the Second Circuit’s old rules, plaintiffs had to show they (1) held a bona fide religious belief conflicting with a work requirement, (2) informed the employer of that belief, and (3) suffered discipline for failing to comply with the requirement. But Abercrombie changes that framework. Now, the plaintiff must show (1) she actually required a religious accommodation, (2) the employer's desire to avoid providing that accommodation was a motivating factor, and (3) she suffered an adverse employment action. Under the new framework, an employer's knowledge of the need for an accommodation is no longer an independent element of the prima facie case. Knowledge may support an inference of discriminatory motive, but motive and not notice is key after Abercrombie.

Here is the reasoning (citing from Abercrombie), explaining that the Court of Appeals (Raggi, Nathan and Furman [D.J.[]) has to comply with Supreme Court authority even if Second Circuit precedent held otherwise for decades:

“An employer who has actual knowledge of the need for an accommodation does not violate Title VII by refusing to hire an applicant if avoiding that accommodation is not his motive,” just as “an employer who acts with the motive of avoiding accommodation may violate Title VII even if he has no more than an unsubstantiated suspicion that accommodation would be needed.”

The Supreme Court thus rejected one requirement of our old rule (that a plaintiff inform an employer of the need for an accommodation) and clarified that what a plaintiff must plead and, ultimately, prove (that the employer was motivated in part by the desire to avoid offering a religious accommodation). The Supreme Court explained that a “request for accommodation, or the employer’s certainty that the practice exists, may make it easier to infer motive,” but it “is not a necessary condition of liability.”

The Court further rejected plaintiff's argument that Abercrombie applies only to hiring decisions. Title VII's disparate-treatment provision governs both hiring and firing, and the Supreme Court's reasoning extends equally to termination cases.

The case returns to the Eastern District for reconsideration under the new legal standard. The trial court must determine whether the evidence would permit a reasonable jury to conclude the state denied Bergin's exemption because it sought to avoid providing a religious accommodation—not merely because it believed her application was incomplete or failed to establish sincerity.