AI Use Emerges as New Basis for Workplace Religious Accommodations

Working on a certain day, dress codes, grooming requirements, vaccine exemptions — these are all familiar grounds for religious accommodations or exemptions at work. Now, you can add using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to the list.

As AI technology rapidly evolves, statements or guidance are increasingly emerging to outline how AI use fits within religious belief systems and teachings. These sometimes form the underpinnings of religious accommodation requests at work — and HR professionals should begin preparing for that scenario.

Guidance and analysis — spanning many religions and denominations — touches on several factors that may tie into workplace exemption requests, including:

• Human dignity and social stability
• The degradation of creativity
• Accumulating power through deception
• Whether technology is based on human needs and is used to help them
• Environmental stewardship
• The inability of machines to possess moral agency, and who holds the “kill switch”
• The nuances of information, learning and intuition
• The loss of human autonomy and decision-making
• Technological manipulation of human intention
• Honesty and integrity

“One of the emerging themes I’ve seen across different conversations has been one of human dignity,” said Whittney Barth, associate teaching professor at Emory Law School and executive director of Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion. “The basis for that theme may vary from community to community, but this theme may be implicated in the workplace to the extent that AI is used to supplant or even represent aspects of human identity in different ways.”

Access bonus Workspan Daily Plus+ articles on this subject:

• An Employee Religiously Objects to Using AI. What Can You Do?
• Accommodations Are a Dynamic Concern for the Employer and Employee
• An Operational Decision Tree to Evaluate ADA Accommodation Requests

Putting Theory Into Practice

A number of religious objections may apply to broad AI use, but specific tools or applications could continue to emerge. One employee who objected to using a biometric hand scanner, citing an interpretation of the “Mark of the Beast” symbol discussed in the Bible’s Book of Revelation, won a case against his employer after he was not permitted to use a keypad alternative that was offered to his coworkers with hand injuries.

Another potential example is using AI wartime or defense technology that removes human judgment from the action of pulling a trigger, noted Jim Paul, a shareholder at the Ogletree Deakins law firm.

While further interpretations remain to be seen, the AI guidance from organized religions has largely been cautionary, he said. It generally has urged individuals to be aware of the potential impacts of tool use — in some ways, no different than warning someone not to drive while impaired.

“Technology can be used for good,” Paul said. “It could cure cancer. It could help solve world problems, prevent wars and create peace. And, it can also kill civilians.”

How HR Should Respond

According to Barth and Paul, HR teams should field AI-related accommodation requests using the same process they have in place for requests based on disability, mental health, medical conditions, pregnancy — or other religious grounds.

Businesses denying a request based on a “sincerely held” religious belief must demonstrate a “substantial” cost or difficulty for the organization; they can’t do so simply because they don’t understand or agree with the request, Barth emphasized.

“It’s important to think about the major religious traditions, but it’s also important to remember that in the context of workplace accommodations, religious beliefs don’t have to fit into one particular tradition,” she said. “They can be unique to a particular individual or to a small group, as long as they are sincerely held. You don’t need an encyclical behind you to be able to claim a religious exemption.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Equitable and Diverse Workplaces
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