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Religious Accommodation Free Exercise Clause

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Supreme Court Upholds Parental Right to Opt Out of Certain School Curriculum on Religious Grounds

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday, June 27, that a Maryland school district’s decision to mandate instruction using LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks, without offering notice or opt-outs to parents, violated the First...more

Cozen O'Connor

Facial Hair, Firefighters, and Free Exercise

Cozen O'Connor on

A single exception can now unravel your entire workplace safety policy. The Third Circuit's decision on May 30, 2025, in Smith v. Atlantic City, underscores how even minor exceptions to grooming or masking rules can expose...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Burn Grooming Policy, Burn? Third Circuit Reignites Bearded Firefighter’s Religious Accommodation and Free Exercise Claims

If you have a grooming policy based on safety factors (like no beards for firefighters), does that trump an employee’s request for a religious accommodation? Maybe not. A recent Third Circuit decision, Smith v. City of...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Religious Institutions Update: July 2024

Holland & Knight LLP on

Vaccine Exemption Policy Requiring Citation to Official Doctrine Violates First Amendment Madison Houghton and Nathan A. Adams IV In Does 1-11 v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Colorado, 100 F. 4th 1251 (10th Cir. 2024), former...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Va. Supreme Court lets teacher's "pronoun" lawsuit go forward

The teacher had a religious objection. The Virginia Supreme Court yesterday found in favor of a West Point public school teacher whose employment was terminated because he would not address a transgender student by the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Religious Institutions: Update June 2023

Holland & Knight LLP on

In Ratliff v. Wycliffe Assoc., Inc., No. 6:22-cv-1185-PGB-RMN, 2023 WL 3688082 (M.D. Fla. May 26, 2023), the plaintiff, a software developer, sued the defendant, a Bible translation ministry, for sex discrimination under...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Smucker’s Out of a Jam: Sixth Circuit Says Being a Federal Contractor Does Not Make You a State Actor

If you take on a federal contract, does that make you a state actor? No, according to a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel in Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker Company. During World War II, the Army included Smucker’s apple butter in its...more

Rumberger | Kirk

First Amendment Wheel Doesn’t Stop Spinning: What Risk Managers Need to Know for the New School Year

Rumberger | Kirk on

As the school year begins, a heightened focus has been placed on schools both nationally and at the local level. Schools are becoming the battlefield where some of the most high-profile cultural clashes occur, which means...more

Miller Nash LLP

Offsides: Supreme Court’s Ruling Against School District Requires a Restart When Thinking About Religion in the Workplace

Miller Nash LLP on

The widely reported Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418 (S. Ct. June 27, 2022) warrants all the attention it has been getting. The Court’s penalty flag against the local Washington school...more

Littler

Claims to Accommodate Flying Spaghetti Monster-ism Hit the Wall in Nebraska Court

Littler on

On April 12, 2016, a district court in Nebraska rejected the religious accommodation claims advanced by a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.1 In denying the religious accommodation claims, the court was...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

“Opt Out” Accommodation Under Affordable Care Act Validated After Challenge from Religious Objectors

In what continues to be a controversial and developing area of employment law, a federal appellate court recently validated the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) “opt out” provision, finding that requiring nonprofit employers to...more

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