The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has released an advisory memorandum opinion making clear that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 may require the federal government to provide “situational telework” to its employees as a religious accommodation. This development is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to expand religious protections in the workplace. Although the memorandum opinion focuses on religious rights in the federal government workplace, private-sector employers also may wish to consider situational telework (or “telecommuting”) as a religious accommodation.

• Existing guidance on religion in the federal workplace largely remains intact, but federal employers now face a higher standard to demonstrate undue hardship when denying requests for religious accommodation.
• Situational telework can be a reasonable religious accommodation, but it is not an automatic entitlement, the DOJ stated in a recent memorandum opinion prepared for EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas.
• Private-sector employers may wish to consider the impact of the DOJ’s memorandum opinion on their own religious reasonable accommodation obligations.

On September 18, 2025, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion, “Religious Liberty Protections for Federal Employees in Light of Recent Legal Developments,” in response to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Acting Chair Andrea Lucas’s question as to how recent legal developments impacted the “...

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