A bill passed during Utah’s most recent legislative session expands religious protections for employees, effective May 1, 2024. H.B. 396 amended Utah’s Antidiscrimination Act to prohibit covered employers from compelling an employee to “engage in religiously objectionable expression that the employee reasonably believes would burden or offend the employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs, unless accommodating the employee would cause an undue burden to the employer. . .”
“Religiously objectionable expression” is defined broadly as “expression, action, or inaction that burdens or offends a sincerely held religious belief, including dress and grooming requirements, speech, scheduling, prayer, abstention, including abstentions relating to healthcare.”
The definition of undue burden in the bill is different than Title VII’s undue hardship definition that applies to religious accommodations. Utah’s new law provides that an “undue burden” may be caused by substantially interfering with an employer’s:
The law provides that for an employee to receive an accommodation, they must request that their employer comply with the law by granting an accommodation, and after making such a request to the employer, the employer must be given a reasonable opportunity to accommodate.
Utah employers should make sure to educate HR managers and supervisors about how to handle religious accommodation requests.
Members can reach out to Employers Council with questions about the new law. We will also present a Utah employment law update that will go over this law and others passed during Utah’s 2024 legislative session.
Erika Paulus is an attorney for Employers Council.