by Zachary Stieber

United Healthcare Services, a Cleveland-based health care provider, and Arkansas-based Hank's Furniture violated federal law when denying the exemption requests and firing the workers, according to the suits.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination over religion and requires businesses to accommodate a worker's religious practice unless doing so would cause "undue hardship."

"Once an employer is on notice that an employee's sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance prevents the employee from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, the employer must provide a reasonable accommodation unless it would pose an undue hardship," Debra Lawrence, a regional attorney for the EEOC, said in a statement. "Neither healthcare providers nor COVID-19 vaccination requirements are excepted from Title VII's protections against religious discrimination."

Marsha Rucker, another EEOC attorney, said the suit against the furniture retailer "should remind employers they must communicate with employees requesting accommodation for religious beliefs and try to accommodate those beliefs whenever reasonably possible."

She pointed to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found in favor of a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier who sued after the service refused to accommodate his request not to work on Sundays.