Consider This from NPR - Religious Exemptions To Vaccines: Who Wants Them And What's Legal

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

Some city and state workers around the country have already begun to resist workplace vaccination rules on religious grounds. Soon those rules will be the norm in the private sector too, with the Biden administration's announcement this month that businesses with 100 or more employees must require those employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.NPR correspondents Andrea Hsu and Shannon Bond explain what the law says about religious exemptions to vaccine rules in the workplace. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Police officers are used to giving orders. Well, now they're being asked to follow them. I feel like we've done nothing wrong by making a choice not to be vaccinated. This past week, a reserve officer in San Jose resigned over that city's vaccine mandate for its employees, including for first responders. The officer, Dave Gutierrez, told the local NBC station why he didn't want to get a shot. To me, it's, you know, my faith, my belief in what I know my body and what I want to put into it. This fight is playing out all across the country. In Los Angeles, thousands of LAPD employees have told the city that they intend to request religious or medical exemptions. In Los Angeles. Thousands of LAPD employees have told the city that they intend to request religious or medical exemptions. In Massachusetts. State troopers want to stop

Governor Charlie Baker's vaccine mandate, so they're suing. And listen to this from last week in Redmond, Washington, just outside Seattle. Okay, hi, I'm super nervous. Firefighters and their wives told the city council they've sacrificed a lot in the last few years. He missed birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, New Year's. He's awake for 48 to 72 hours every week. He has done that all because he loves this job and he loves serving these citizens. But that woman said she and her husband, a city firefighter, were prepared for him to lose his job if the city wouldn't grant religious exemptions to its vaccine mandate. The power and authority you have in your

position in government is given to you by God, so put this to good and honorable use. Thanks for your time. Consider this. More vaccine rules are coming, and not just for public sector employees. That'll mean more workers seeking religious exemptions and more employers figuring out how to respond. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Monday, September 27th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time, mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. Earlier this month, 18 states and the District of Columbia had

already told government employees to get a shot or risk losing their jobs. That was before President Biden made this announcement. The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees that together employ over 80 million workers to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week. That rule, which will cover private sector businesses and their workers, isn't in effect yet, but it could be in a matter of weeks. It'll be a rule from the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which regulates workplace safety. Still, some businesses like United Airlines have already gone further, imposing vaccine

mandates on workers without an opt-out for weekly testing. Now, according to public opinion polls, Americans are just about evenly split on vaccine rules in the workplace, with Democrats far more likely to approve of them than Republicans. I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good. Take the vaccines. But you got now that's OK. That's all right. You got your freedoms. That was former President Trump getting booed by his own supporters at an Alabama rally last month. According to a recent NPR-PBS NewsHour Marist poll, while the share of Americans who say they have gotten or will get a vaccine is going up, 19 percent of U.S. adults still say they don't intend to get a shot. So what happens when some of these

Americans are required to get one by their employer but have a religious objection? Well, to talk more about that, here's Shannon Bond and Andrea Hsu from NPR's Business Desk. They spoke to Ari Shapiro. Shannon, to start with, what have leaders of major religious groups been saying about getting vaccinated? Well, so far, no major religion opposes the COVID vaccines. In fact, prominent religious leaders are endorsing them. Here's Pope Francis telling Catholics that getting vaccinated is an act of love. He says love for oneself, for families and friends, and for all people. Even the Christian Science Church, which counsels prayer rather than medical care,

says it doesn't have an official policy on vaccinations. It leaves it up to individuals to make that decision. And Ari, that's exactly why this is so complicated when it comes to religious exemptions from vaccine mandates, you know, for employers, for schools, because it's not about what religious institutions or leaders say. It's about personal belief. And so what kinds of objections are people raising on the individual level? Well, so I cover tech. I've been following a lot of these discussions on social media. And in particular, I've been looking at Facebook groups that are opposed to vaccine mandates. And a common question I'm seeing pop up in these groups is members asking each other,

where can I get a religious exemption? What should I say? You know, trading tips on what to tell their employers. And one line of reasoning that people in these groups often cite is the false claim that these COVID vaccines contain fetal cells, and people who oppose abortion have raised that as a moral concern. Now, to be clear, public health officials say fetal cell lines developed decades ago in the laboratory were used to develop and test the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and that's a common practice in pharmaceutical research. Other fetal cell lines are being used in the production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but these vaccines themselves, they do not contain any fetal cells.

Okay, so Shannon, you've been following the conversations among objectors on social media, and Andrea Xu, you've been talking with some of the employers who are seeing these requests come in. What are they saying? Yeah, Ari, well, I talked today with Matt Troop. He's the CEO of Conway Regional Medical Center. That's a hospital in central Arkansas. He's gotten 45 requests for religious exemptions, way more than he normally gets for the flu vaccine. And they're all based on the fetal cell issue that Shannon just talked about. You know, Troop told me that he took this as an opportunity to educate his workforce. He had his team compile a list of 28 common medicines that also used fetal cells in testing or research or development.

And this list, which I have right here, it includes things like Tylenol, ibuprofen, Claritin, even Tums. He sent this list out to everyone who applied for a religious exemption. And here's what he said about why he did that. They need to know that they're going to be consistent in their beliefs. That applies to a lot of different things other than the COVID vaccine. Now I should say that list didn't change anyone's mind. They still wanted the religious exemption and Troup granted exemptions to everyone who asked for one. He points out it's only about five percent of his workforce so the vast majority of his employees are vaccinated and those that aren't will have to undergo regular testing.

So that hospital is an example of one that did grant religious exemptions. How common is that among employers? Well, it's really hard to say, but remember, every employer does have an obligation to keep their workers safe, and the law puts employers in a pretty strong position when it comes to religious exemptions. Under the law, employers have to provide a reasonable accommodation for workers who have these sincerely held religious beliefs unless the accommodation poses an undue hardship. So what's an undue hardship, right? Well, I talked to Roman Hernandez about it. He's an employment lawyer in Oregon. An undue hardship is one in which the employer must bear more than a de minimis cost in accommodating an employee's religious beliefs. And Ari, you can guess what de minimis means, small or minimal. So it's a pretty low bar, something as little as having to move people

around to different shifts. That could count as an undue hardship. So that employer could use that to deny an employee an accommodation. And have you found employers who are saying it's too hard for them to make these kinds of accommodations? Well, yeah. Last week, we saw the NBA deny a religious exemption request from Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins. San Francisco, of course, has a vaccine mandate for large indoor events. And the NBA said Wiggins will not be able to play at any home games until he's vaccinated. In RE, there's also United Airlines. They announced back in early August that all their U.S. employees would have to be vaccinated. A few weeks ago, they informed staff who had applied for religious exemptions that even if granted those exemptions, they would be put on unpaid leave. So by the legal standard of reasonable accommodations, does that qualify?

Well, that is the question. Is it reasonable? You don't lose your job, but you lose your income for an indefinite amount of time. Roman Hernandez, that lawyer I spoke with, he says unpaid leave has historically been upheld in court as a reasonable accommodation. It's probably not the accommodation that those workers wanted, but that is something that the employer is providing. Now, a handful of United employees have sued, saying their rights were violated, that unpaid leave is not a reasonable accommodation. These employees, who include a pilot and a flight attendant, they were granted religious exemptions. They weren't fired, but they say they're basically being cut off from their jobs.

United told me they think the case is without merit. And by the way, they report that 97% of their workforce is now vaccinated. So that's Andrea with The Worker's View. To come back to you, Shannon, what should employees thinking of applying for religious exemptions keep in mind? Well, you know, it's been interesting looking at these Facebook groups, Ari, right? People are sharing links to get paperwork sort of proving that they have an exemption, they need an exemption. So there are some pastors and online churches that are offering people letters to give to their employers. Sometimes that's in exchange for a donation. You know, there's sort of other, there's opportunists in here.

There are links to people who claim to be consultants who say they can help folks get exemptions. There's this one group that offers different packages. So you could pay $175 to buy phone consulting, sample forms, even a signed letter from a pastor. But as Andrea says, it's really up to the employer to decide whether or not to grant these exemptions, whether or not you have a signed letter. So people should probably think twice about paying for these services. That was Andrea Hsu and Shannon Bond, correspondents with NPR's Business Desk. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.