In June 2021, the Supreme Court declined an invitation to overturn Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, its seminal 1990 case holding that a facially neutral and generally applicable law survives a challenge under the Free Exercise Clause if it is rationally related to a legitimate government interest. However, the
Smith Survives – The Supreme Court’s Fulton v. City of Philadelphia Decision Does Not Alter the Free Exercise Analysis for Facially Neutral and Generally Applicable Laws
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution includes both an establishment clause and a free exercise clause. Of these, the free exercise clause is often invoked in the employment context to challenge employer policies that, while facially neutral and generally applicable, incidentally burden religion.
In Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v.
The Protected Trait – the Dividing Line between Hurtful and Unlawful Conduct
The term “hostile work environment” is used – or rather, misused – so often, that its meaning has become somewhat obscured. In an office full of fans of the local sports team, the sole fan of its archrival may say that being singled out as such creates a “hostile work environment.” Or, in a workplace
Fulton v. City of Philadelphia – The End of an Era in Limiting Free Exercise of Religion?
In March 2018, a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter alerted the City’s Department of Human Services (“Department”) that two of the foster care agencies with which it contracts – including Catholic Social Services (“CSS”) – refused to work with same-sex foster parents. The Department promptly conducted an investigation and, upon confirming that CSS refused to work with
What’s in a Name? – The Karen Meme Question
If you consume social media, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or the app of the moment TikTok, you have certainly come across “the Karen meme.” By and large, “the Karen meme” is an image depicting a middle-aged Caucasian woman, almost always sporting a spiky, short blonde haircut. “Karen” argues with and is condescending to service
Witnesses Move on, and Memories Fade – but an Investigation Report is Forever
Let’s set the scene. It’s February of 2020, and an employee comes to you, a supervisor, to “vent” about being the target of off-color comments and jokes due to the employee’s national origin. The employee does not use the term “harassment.” Moreover, the employee tells you that they are just talking it out, and they
“OK, Boomer” – The Meme that May Mean Trouble
It is no secret that Generations Y and Z do not often see eye-to-eye with the Baby Boomer generation on a number of complex cultural, social, and political issues. Baby Boomers criticize Millennials (Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Zers (Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2010) as “entitled” and “narcissistic.” In