Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DISCRIMINATION—RELIGIOUS—D. Ore.: Claim for failure to accommodate religious beliefs dismissed due to untimely submission, (Apr 28, 2025)

By Susan L. Smith, JD, MA

The employer declined accommodation, contending the employee failed to sufficiently explain how her religious beliefs prevented her from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon dismissed a registered nurse’s (RN’s) complaint alleging that her former employer did not accommodate her request to be exempt from being vaccinated against COVID-19 based on her religious beliefs concluding that the RN failed to timely submit her suit. Legacy Health contended that the RN’s state law failure to accommodate claim should be dismissed because it was untimely filed under state law. The court found that (1) the RN’s claim was time-barred because she did not file suit within 90 days of receiving a right-to-sue letter from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). The court also determined that the RN’s exemption request did not properly inform Legacy of her religious objection to the vaccine. The court concluded that the RN failed to sufficiently plead a case for failure to accommodate under Title VII. The court noted that because the RN cannot go back in time to amend her exemption request, her federal failure to accommodate claim is dismissed with prejudice (Routsalainen v. Legacy Health, No. 3:24-cv-01042-MO (D.C. Ore. Apr. 17, 2025)).

Background. The RN was employed by Legacy Health when it implemented a vaccination policy to comply with Oregon's mandate that all healthcare workers either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a documented medical or religious exemption in place by October 18, 2021. Although the RN submitted a written exemption request on September 1, 2021, that describes her life journey and allegiance to Legacy, she refused to explain how her religious beliefs prevented her from receiving the vaccine, she would not take the vaccine against her will, and would not give consent. The RN also included eight pages of compiled information related to COVID treatments other than vaccination. Legacy declined her exemption request and terminated her employment on October 19, 2021.

On August 13, 2022, the RN filed an administrative complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), requesting that it be cross-filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). On February 10, 2023, BOLI dismissed her complaint and issued a notice of her right to file a civil suit. On March 28, 2024, the EEOC issued its notice of the RN’s right to file a civil suit. She filed this lawsuit on June 26, 2024, bringing two discrimination claims, including failure-to-accommodate, disparate treatment, disparate impact, wrongful reduction in pay, retaliation, pattern-or-practice discrimination, and hostile work environment. After Legacy filed its motion to dismiss, the RN agreed to voluntarily dismiss all claims except for the failure-to-accommodate claim under Title VII and Oregon law.

Title VII analysis. Under Title VII, to show that an employer failed to accommodate a plaintiff’s religious practices, a plaintiff must show (1) she had a bona fide religious belief, the practice of which conflicts with an employment duty; (2) she informed her employer of the belief and conflict; and (3) the employer discharged, threatened, or otherwise subjected her to an adverse employment action because of her inability to fulfill the job requirement. Oregon's statutory counterpart to Title VII, ORS 659.030, is considered identical to Title VII.

Timeliness of state law claim. Legacy contended that the RN was time-barred because she was required to file any lawsuit within 90 days of receiving a right-to-sue letter from BOLI. The RN received a letter from BOLI on February 10, 2023, but she did not file suit until June 26, 2024, over a year later. Oregon law provides that a person who has filed a complaint must commence a civil action within 90 days after a 90-day notice is mailed to the complainant. The court noted that the letter that the RN received from BOLI on February 10, 2023, made abundantly clear she had 90 days from then to initiate her civil suit against Legacy. Accordingly, the court concluded that he RN’s accommodation claim under Oregon law is time-barred and dismissed it with prejudice.

Failure to accommodate. The court explained that the key question in this case is whether the RN informed Legacy of her religious conflict with the vaccine at the time she requested an accommodation. An employer cannot be charged with failing to accommodate a religious need it did not know about. Legacy argued that the RN failed to plead failure-to-accommodate claims because her exemption request did not adequately inform Legacy of a religious conflict with the vaccine mandate and any additional details in her complaint cannot remedy that failure. In addition, even if the RN could go back in time and add the complaint's details to her exemption request, it would still not be enough because her objections to the vaccine are secular preferences.

The RN argued that the text of her request was enough because when read in context, it was clear that she was leaning on her religious beliefs to request an exemption to the vaccine mandate. She stated that she explicitly cited the Bible, identified herself as a Christian, and shared that she believes her body to be a temple of God and argued that Legacy should have made the logical inference that she was requesting a vaccine exemption due to her religious beliefs. The RN, however, did not cite any authority to suggest that employers are required to investigate an employee’s potential religious objections on the mere suggestion they exist.

Legacy argued that because people with the same religious beliefs could have different but equally religious objections to a vaccine, the burden must stay with the employee to articulate her personal conflict. Legacy pointed out that while the RN referenced her religious beliefs, she also attached eight pages of medical and scientific information about alternative treatments to COVID. The court agreed with Legacy that it was not properly informed of the RN’s religious objections to the vaccine at the time it received the exemption request. The court noted that a reasonable reader of the RN’s request is not left with a firm conclusion that her objection to the vaccine was religious in nature. Further, the RN expressly refused to provide any explanation of her religious conflict and failed to inform Legacy of her religious conflict with the vaccine. The court thus determined that the RN failed plead a sufficient failure to accommodate claim. Moreover, because the RN cannot go back in time to amend her exemption request, her federal failure to accommodate claim is dismissed with prejudice.

The case is No. 3:24-cv-01042-MO.

Judge: Mosman, M,

Attorneys: Paul Robert Armstrong Janzen (Rugged Law, Inc.) for Laura Routsalainen. Brenda K. Baumgart (Stoel Rives LLP) for Legacy Health.

Companies: Legacy Health

Cases: Discrimination ReligiousDiscrimination Discharge Covid19 Procedure OregonNews