The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a significant decision, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. GEO Group, Inc., that will likely have widespread implications concerning employers' obligations to provide religious accommodations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Muslim employees, challenging a prison company's ban on all head coverings. The Third Circuit held that GEO did not violate Title VII's prohibition against religious discrimination when it refused to accommodate the employees by providing them an exception to the dress policy to wear headscarves. The Court concluded that it would be an undue hardship to provide an exception because it would compromise the legitimate security and safety concerns of the prison. GEO presented evidence that the headscarves could be used to smuggle contraband into the facility or be used against the employees as a strangulation device in an attack.
This decision applies to employers in all industries, creating stronger grounds to deny requests for accommodations of religious beliefs based on safety or security concerns. Employers should continue, however, to carefully evaluate the nature of each requested accommodation as it pertains to the specific business interests at hand.
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