In Bergin v. New York State Unified Ct. Sys., No. 25-721, 2026 WL 2035593 (2d Cir. July 15, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit clarified the standard for failure-to-accommodate-religion claims asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
From the decision:
In the past, our Circuit assessed whether a plaintiff stated a prima facie case of failure to accommodate religion under Title VII by asking whether the plaintiff (1) held a bona fide religious belief conflicting with a work requirement, (2) informed her employer of that belief, and (3) was disciplined for failure to comply with the requirement. Knight v. Conn. Dep’t of Pub. Health, 275 F.3d 156, 167 (2d Cir. 2001). Today we must decide whether the Supreme Court abrogated that test in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. 768, 135 S.Ct. 2028, 192 L.Ed.2d 35 (2015). We hold that it did. Now, to state a prima facie case of failure to accommodate religious belief or practice under Title VII, a plaintiff must demonstrate (1) that she actually required an accommodation of her religious practice, and (2) that the employer’s desire to avoid the actually required prospective accommodation was a motivating factor in (3) an adverse employment decision.
The court concluded that since the district court did not consider whether the plaintiff satisfied Abercrombie’s standard, and because it improperly deemed portions of the discovery record to be judicial admissions, the lower judgment would be vacated, and the matter remanded for further proceedings.