At our 2021 House of Delegates, a resolution was adopted to support religious accommodations for health care providers and trainees in the workplace.
Resolution Excerpt: “The MAFP (Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians) will publicly support sincere efforts made by employers and health care institutions to accommodate all individuals, including medical learners, requesting religious accommodations in the workplace as granted under the United States and Minnesota Constitutions and as required by Federal Civil Rights law in accordance with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The MAFP will also send letters to all Minnesota medical school admission offices and Minnesota family medicine residency programs requesting that they review their institutional policies and hiring/application processes to make sure they are in compliance with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission laws regarding requests for religious accommodations in the workplace to help prevent the systemic discrimination of individuals based on their religious beliefs.”
Read the full resolution.
From the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…
“Are employers required to accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of applicants and employees?
Yes. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. This includes refusing to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship (more than a minimal burden on operation of the business). A religious practice may be sincerely held by an individual even if newly adopted, not consistently observed or different from the commonly followed tenets of the individual’s religion.”
The MAFP has compiled a list of resources on understanding and implementing religious accommodations in the workplace:
- Toolkit on Navigating Religious Beliefs in the Workplace
(Society of Human Resources Management)
- What You Should Know: Workplace Religious Accommodation
(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
- Religious Accommodation Tips
(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
- Questions and Answers: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
- Manager Workplace Religious Accommodation Toolkit
(National Institutes of Health Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)
The following resources are more specific to the health care industry regarding religious accommodations in the workplace and in training:
- Physician and Patient Relationships, Professional Responsibility
(American Academy of Family Physicians)
- Mistreatment of Learners in Medical Education
(American Academy of Family Physicians)
- Medical School Accommodations for Religious and Cultural Practices
(American Medical Association Journal of Ethics)
- Religious Accommodation in the Healthcare Industry: What to Do When an Employee’s Beliefs Clash With Job Duties
(Ogletree Deakins)
- Religious Accommodation and Patient Safety in the Health Care Industry
(The National Law Review)
- How to Handle an Employee’s Request for a Medical or Religious Accommodation to a Vaccine Requirement
(Society of Human Resources Management)
