Where an employee connected her refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine with her religious beliefs by stating that it “is God’s law” that she must “be protective of [her] temple,” the district court wrongly granted the employer summary judgment on her religious discrimination claim.
Background
Essity Professional Hygiene North America, LLC terminated Delsonya Wilkins-Bailey’s employment, following her refusal to obtain vaccination against COVID-19. Wilkins-Bailey sued, alleging: (1) religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (2) race discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII and (3) race discrimination and retaliation in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
Wilkins-Bailey waived the retaliation claims at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. Essity moved for summary judgment on all issues, which the district court granted.
Religious discrimination
Under Title VII, an employer may not “discharge any individual, or otherwise . . . discriminate against any individual . . . because of such individual’s . . . religion.” To present a prima facie claim, a claimant must show the professed belief is (1) sincerely held and (2) “religious in nature.”
The requirement that a belief be “religious in nature” “limit[s] the factfinder’s inquiry to a determination whether the beliefs professed . . . are, in the claimant’s own scheme of things, religious.” “[T]he law only requires a person to plausibly allege that...
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