I found this week to be tougher to narrow things down in regard to articles to highlight. While religious exemptions and Amazon’s planned hiring increase this holiday season is noteworthy, I want to point readers toward the article which talks about preparing for an active shooter in the workplace. Every workplace is different and no two plans will look the same, but this is an article worth a quick review.
As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.
Employees Do NOT Have to Belong to a Religious Group to Get Religious Exemption
Religious exemptions in the workplace have become a common topic over the past few months, given that some workers are asking for a religious exemption from vaccine requirements. As this article notes, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that employers are required to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs so long as the accommodation does not result in an undue hardship for the employer. Notably, however, is the fact that employees are entitled to a religious accommodation even if that employee is not part of an organized religion. (For instance, an employee can have a sincerely held religious belief under Title VII even if they are the only person that holds that religious belief.) Going one step further, courts have also held that an employer is prohibited from denying a religious accommodation request if the employer does not believe the religious belief to be reasonable, correct, or plausible. Finally, as this article points out, employers cannot deny a religious accommodation request even if the leader of a religious organization does not have the same belief as the employee. (For instance, even though the Pope has stated that he does not believe the coronavirus vaccine conflicts with the teachings of the Catholic Church and therefore is not grounds for a Catholic to refuse to get the vaccine on religious grounds, employers cannot use this as a reason to deny a Catholic employee’s religious accommodation request.) I refer readers to the entirety of the article for more information on the matter.
Planning For An Active Shooter In the Workplace
Unfortunately, in this day and age, active shooters in the workplace are an ongoing threat. As a result, many employers have implemented active shooter training programs for their workers and new hires. As always, every situation and workplace is different, but this article from the University of Miami provides a few tips that employers and employees alike can keep in mind to prepare for the threat of an active shooter. For those that already have a plan in place, great! This article is still worth reviewing. For those that do not have a plan in place, this article is a good place to start.
Amazon Plans to Hire 150,000 Workers For Holiday Season
I mean, the title of this one really says it all…Amazon has announced an aggressive hiring push for the upcoming holiday season. I wanted to highlight this article though more to ask the rhetorical question: Ok, but where are all these workers going to come from? After all, as many readers have heard, we are in the midst of a tight labor market. With that being said, Amazon indicated it would offer bonuses up to $3,000.00 and increase pay by $3/hour in certain parts of the country in an effort to draw workers. Will it pay off and result in the 150,000 hiring goal being met? Maybe. I think it will be more worthwhile to see what other employers do in an effort to match Amazon’s hiring strategy.
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