Law Commons^™

The "Moral Hazards" Of Title Vii's Religious Accomodation Doctrine, Stephen Gee

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Freedom of religion in the workplace has recently become a hot topic with regards to whether U.S. or state laws (mainly contraceptive care and treatment of same-sex, married employees’ spouses) must accommodate certain employer’s religious beliefs or else violate the employer’s constitutional right. However, before this recent employer-centric topic came to light, the main focus was on employees and to what extent employers must accommodate an employee’s religion via Title VII. Most, if not all, academic literature has argued an employer’s duty to accommodate employee’s religion is too weak under Title VII and should thus be increased to the significant …

Reasonable Accommodation Under The Ada: Are Employers Required To Participate In The Interactive Process? The Courts Say "Yes" But The Law Says "No", John R. Autry

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") generally requires employers to "reasonably accommodate" a "qualified" employee's disability. Unfortunately, the ADA is silent as to the appropriate method for fashioning reasonable accommodations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued regulations endorsing an "interactive process" by which an employer and its "qualified" disabled employee work together to devise the proper accommodation. However, the Supreme Court has yet to determine whether courts must defer to these regulations, leaving the circuit courts of appeals to issue differing opinions on whether the EEOC's interactive process is best characterized as a requirement or merely a suggestion.

Thus, …