After Groff: The New Era of Religious Accommodation at Work

Religious accommodation may once have seemed like a relatively narrow corner of employment law. For HR professionals in 2026, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to overlook.

At BLUEPRINT in Nashville this November, Rev. Mark Fowler, CEO of Tanenbaum, will lead “Faith at Work: Religious Diversity, Inclusion and Accommodation.” The session will explore how employers can navigate religious differences in an increasingly complex workplace — and how they can turn accommodation from a compliance exercise into a more enduring part of the employee experience.

Presentation: Faith at Work — Religious Accommodations in the Workplace Training

The issue has taken on new urgency as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) increases its focus on religious discrimination. The agency’s new National Enforcement Plan for fiscal years 2025–2029 identifies protecting workers’ religious liberty — including their rights to religious accommodations and freedom from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation — among its enforcement priorities. The plan also highlights cases that may further develop employers’ accommodation obligations following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Groff v. DeJoy.

Recent enforcement activity underscores that focus. According to the EEOC, the agency recovered more than $48 million on behalf of religious workers in fiscal 2025, a 146% increase from the $19.55 million recovered the previous year. Since January 2025, the agency says it has filed 16 religious discrimination lawsuits.

Meanwhile, Groff significantly clarified the standard employers must meet when denying a religious accommodation under Title VII. The Supreme Court rejected the longstanding interpretation that an employer could establish “undue hardship” by showing that an accommodation imposed merely more than a minimal cost. Instead, employers must show that the burden is substantial in the context of their particular business.

For HR professionals, those legal questions can emerge through surprisingly ordinary workplace issues: scheduling around Sabbath observance, accommodating prayer, addressing religious dress and grooming, handling dietary practices, or navigating religious expression among employees.

The BLUEPRINT session promises to move beyond abstract compliance principles and into those day-to-day challenges. Attendees will examine the post-Groff legal landscape while receiving practical guidance for managers, approaches to accommodation policies that can work across large organizations, and a framework for addressing difficult requests before they escalate.

With both the legal standard and the federal enforcement landscape evolving, religious accommodation is becoming an issue employers can’t afford to treat as an occasional exception.