Religion at Work: How New Laws Have Led to Increased Accommodation Requests
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The Supreme Court decision broadening religious rights in the workplace has led to many state court decisions that also give employees greater protection for their religious views. This, in turn, has led to an increase in worker demands for accommodation. Learn the current state of legal protection for religion at work and what obligations HR may have to workers claiming faith-based exceptions to employer policies and training.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how religious rights of employees enjoy greater protection due to federal and state court decisions;
- Learn what new state laws are in place based on those court decisions;
- Learn how to analyze requests for accommodation or exemption from workplace policies and training from employees claiming their religious beliefs are being violated.
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Kelly Dobbs Bunting
Kelly Bunting, Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Labor & Employment Practice's Workplace Compliance & Counseling Group, and member of its Artificial Intelligence Law Group, has considerable experience defending class and collective wage and hour litigation and misclassification claims, having defended employers in Title III ADA access litigation and litigation alleging race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She is deeply experienced in virtually all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, labor, Title VII, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, non-competition and non-solicitation, trade secrets, SOX and Dodd Frank whistleblower claims, CEPA, ADEA, FMLA, NJLAD, and failure to accommodate issues. She has identified and managed employment issues in M&A deals and appeared before the EEOC, NLRB, and DOL in many states, as well as state agencies in DE, NY, NJ and PA. Kelly has represented many clients in mediation and settlement negotiations, and created HR and compliance training modules. She is regularly sought after as a workforce trainer for issues related to harassment and discrimination, FCPA compliance, good management techniques, and union awareness.
Kelly focuses much of her practice on international L&E issues, including employment/secondment contracts, data privacy, and global anti-corruption compliance. She advises clients on national and international handbook policies, procedures, and strategic HR issues, and provides day-to-day counsel in hiring, employee relations, employee discipline, and termination. She also conducts and advises on internal investigations.
