From Chick-fil-A to the Mosque: Exploring the Rights of Religious Employers in the Workplace

This webinar is the second in a two-part series covering employee and employer religious rights and related labor issues. Employers have both constitutional and statutory rights which protect their ability to maintain their religious identities in the workplace. These protections include the Title VII religious organization exemption, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the ministerial exception, and other First Amendment rights. Controversies often emerge around employers’ ability to manifest their religion through whom they hire and fire, how they supervise their employees, and what services and benefits they offer employees. Employers claiming these rights range from places of worship like mosques and churches to for-profit corporations whose owners want to operate consistently with their personal religious beliefs. This panel will outline the scope of protections for religious employers and explores the tensions between these rights and the rights of employees.

Featuring: 

Prof. Carl Esbeck, R.B. Price Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Missouri School of Law

Jennifer S. Goldstein, Associate General Counsel - Appellate Litigation, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Sharon Fast Gustafson, former General Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.