Federal Agencies & Religious Accommodations: Telework & Flex

If telework or versatile job routines can not accommodate a spiritual awareness request, Kupor stated that employees can earn compensatory pause– that is, they would work overtime prior to or after the regard to cover for the hours they would or else miss, though without earning the costs pay associated with overtime work.

Kasperowicz pointed to the assistance, which specifies,” [A] gencies have a responsibility to work with employees that request an RA based on a special needs to guarantee that qualified people with handicaps have equal opportunities to take part in the application process, perform the necessary functions of their jobs, and enjoy the exact same benefits and benefits of employment as their non-disabled coworkers.”

OPM’s Guidance on Religious Accommodations

In his initial public memo because his Us senate confirmation recently, Office of Personnel Administration Director Scott Kupor composed that as a result of the 2023 Supreme Court instance Groff v. DeJoy, which held that companies must demonstrate “substantial enhanced prices” if they refute an employee’s spiritual holiday accommodation request, federal firms need to function to honor such requests from their workers.

“Upon getting an ask for a religious lodging, firms must take part in a good-faith interactive process with the worker to explore practical holiday accommodations,” he composed. “Agencies must examine whether a holiday accommodation enforces a substantial problem on operations … Agencies are also advised that religious accommodations might entail numerous, complementary or hybrid methods to completely deal with a staff member’s spiritual requirements.”

When Head of state Trump initially returned to the White House in January, he swiftly transferred to end both remote job and consistently scheduled telework for the huge bulk of federal employees, allowing exceptions just for the partners of military service participants, as a result of their constant moving, and staff members with a sensible holiday accommodation for an impairment.

Exploring Workplace Adaptabilities

Agencies might utilize a number of workplace adaptabilities to deal with a staff member’s spiritual holiday accommodation request, including telework, compensatory time off, maxiflex and adaptable work routine, and both paid and unsettled leave. Telework specifically can be valuable to suit observing– or preparing to observe– a spiritual vacation or sabbath regard, to take part in spiritual fasting or various other time-specific prayer regards.

Telework: A Cost-Effective Solution?

“Telework is typically an inexpensive option that aligns with the Groff criterion, as on a restricted basis, it typically does not impose significant operational worries,” Kupor created. “Agencies must examine telework demands by taking into consideration technological feasibility, job demands, telework qualification, and various other appropriate variables … Rejections of telework lodgings for religious methods or observations have to be justified with proof of substantial operational influence, per Groff.”

Office of Personnel Administration Director Scott Kupor stressed that agencies should work collaboratively with employees to discover a reasonable lodging for their spiritual observance demand.
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The federal government’s specialized HR company on Wednesday motivated firms to adopt a “generous method” to assessing government workers who request telework and various other workplace versatilities as a result of spiritual regards.

OPM’s support come simply days after the Veterans Matters Department began an effort to scrutinize whether disabled workers there deserve their affordable holiday accommodations entitling them to proceeded telework.

VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz says that the purpose of the division’s new reasonable accommodation guidance “is to make certain these lodgings stay required, reasonable and efficient for both the worker and VA.”