Religiously Motivated Conduct and the Reasonable Accommodation Requirement Under Title VII: A New Framework for Analysis

Robin Knauer Maril

No amfwz_v1, LawArchive from Center for Open Science

Abstract: The passage of the Affordable Care Act, nationwide marriage equality, and calls to expand the Civil Rights Act have thrust religious exemptions and accommodations increasingly to the front of public consciousness and before the courts. Photos of sympathetic plaintiffs and stakeholders on both sides fill news articles and advocacy websites. Their stories are often compelling, and their claims seemingly cannot be reconciled. However, in a pluralistic society guided by fundamental ideals of equality and liberty, they must. This Article explores the increasing tension between religious liberty claims and civil rights laws within the context of the religious accommodation requirement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). It proposes a framework for evaluating requests for religious accommodations that asks, as a threshold question, whether the religiously motivated action in question is “inward” or “outward” facing. This proposed framework represents a synthesis of decades of Title VII case law that has consistently held that inward-facing activities, such as those involving religious observance or co-religionists, warrant the greatest protection, whereas outward-facing activities, such as those involving third-parties or non-co-religionists, receive the least protection. The first Part of this Article explores the protection and regulation of religiously motivated conduct as seen through the lens of the inward/outward framework. The second Part charts the development of the reasonable accommodation requirement under Title VII, including the judicially imposed de minimis standard for undue hardship. The third Part discusses the application of the de minimis standard in both case law and agency guidance. The final Part illustrates the application of the inward/outward framework in the context of religious accommodations under Title VII through model scenarios and to the recent EEOC v. Kroger case. A brief conclusion notes that this framework not only furthers the purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but it is faithful to the Constitutional safeguards and limits that were artfully designed to balance rights and promote a just society.

Date: 2026-10-15
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:lawarc:amfwz_v1

DOI: 10.31228/osf.io/amfwz_v1

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