Medical Justice
Outcome: SettledPassarella v. Aspirus, Inc.
What the court held
Decided the same day as Bube and on related reasoning, the Seventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of Title VII claims brought by two hospital employees whose requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement were treated as rooted in safety rather than faith. The court held that an employee seeks accommodation because of religion when the request, by its terms, is plausibly based at least in part on some aspect of religious belief or practice.
What it means
An employer cannot defeat a claim at the pleading stage by characterizing an exemption request as really about safety. If the request is plausibly religious in part, that is enough to proceed.
Sincerity of belief and whether the employer could accommodate without undue hardship are questions for the district court on remand, not questions answered on a motion to dismiss.
This was a procedural ruling on the pleadings: the Seventh Circuit reversed the dismissal and remanded for further proceedings. It is not a final judgment, a damages award, or a settlement.