{ "attribution": { "source": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:ca7-25-2743-2026-09-28", "cite_as": "NovaCopilot, legal.exploreworldai.com (https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:ca7-25-2743-2026-09-28)", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/revision", "version": "legal-2026-10-04", "fingerprint": "ewai:se:d79eaf", "proof": "sha256:7dc0503aaf1ce46165a38b75cb0273604819b5077a023f36a571cbf52032d2c3", "jurisdiction": "se", "lang": "en", "publisher": "NovaCopilot by ExploreWorld Legal", "terms": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/om" }, "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor", "contact": "stig@valkiv.com" }, "item": { "schema_version": "1.0.0", "id": "us:ca7-25-2743-2026-09-28", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor", "contact": "stig@valkiv.com" }, "sections": [ { "title": "In the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "United States Court of Appeals", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "For the Seventh Circuit", "paragraphs": [ "para_4" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_6", "para_7", "para_8", "para_9", "para_10", "para_11" ] }, { "title": "Appeal from the United States District Court for the", "paragraphs": [ "para_13", "para_14", "para_15" ] }, { "title": "ARGUED JUNE 2, 2026 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 28, 2026", "paragraphs": [ "para_17" ] }, { "title": "Before JACKSON-AKIWUMI, LEE, and TAIBLESON, Circuit", "paragraphs": [ "para_19" ] }, { "title": "LEE, Circuit Judge. Brooke Mason was fired from her job as", "paragraphs": [ "para_21", "para_22" ] }, { "title": "County for religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of", "paragraphs": [ "para_24", "para_25", "para_26" ] }, { "title": "2 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_28", "para_29" ] }, { "title": "I", "paragraphs": [ "para_31", "para_32" ] }, { "title": "Mem’l Hosp., 147 F.4th 817, 821 (7th Cir. 2025). Mason was an", "paragraphs": [ "para_34" ] }, { "title": "County (collectively, “the County”). The County operates", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, where Mason worked as a phar-", "paragraphs": [ "para_37", "para_38", "para_39", "para_40", "para_41", "para_42" ] }, { "title": "The COVID-19 pandemic strained the County’s already", "paragraphs": [ "para_44", "para_45", "para_46" ] }, { "title": "COVID-19, the County implemented a policy in August 2021", "paragraphs": [ "para_48", "para_49" ] }, { "title": "The County based this policy on guidance from federal", "paragraphs": [ "para_51" ] }, { "title": "Control and Prevention (CDC) found that COVID-19 vaccina-", "paragraphs": [ "para_53", "para_54", "para_55", "para_56", "para_57" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 3", "paragraphs": [ "para_59", "para_60", "para_61", "para_62" ] }, { "title": "Employees could request an exemption from this policy", "paragraphs": [ "para_64", "para_65", "para_66", "para_67", "para_68", "para_69", "para_70", "para_71", "para_72", "para_73", "para_74" ] }, { "title": "In September 2021, Mason requested an exemption from", "paragraphs": [ "para_76", "para_77", "para_78", "para_79", "para_80", "para_81" ] }, { "title": "I am unable to comply with Cook County Health’s", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Covid vaccine mandate as it runs counter to my Chris-", "paragraphs": [ "para_84", "para_85", "para_86", "para_87", "para_88", "para_89" ] }, { "title": "4 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_91", "para_92", "para_93" ] }, { "title": "The County informed Mason that it could not grant her re-", "paragraphs": [ "para_95", "para_96" ] }, { "title": "Mason 90 days to apply to a remote position within their sys-", "paragraphs": [ "para_98", "para_99" ] }, { "title": "Mason filed this lawsuit in November 2023. She asserted", "paragraphs": [ "para_101", "para_102" ] }, { "title": "See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). She also alluded to a discrimination", "paragraphs": [ "para_104" ] }, { "title": "County employee with the title “Sanitarian I” violated the", "paragraphs": [ "para_106", "para_107", "para_108", "para_109", "para_110" ] }, { "title": "The County moved for summary judgment, and the dis-", "paragraphs": [ "para_112", "para_113" ] }, { "title": "(based on the County’s failure to accommodate a religious be-", "paragraphs": [ "para_115" ] }, { "title": "County could accommodate her request without suffering", "paragraphs": [ "para_117", "para_118", "para_119", "para_120" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 5", "paragraphs": [ "para_122", "para_123" ] }, { "title": "II", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "A. Failure-to-Accommodate Claim", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Under Title VII, an employer may not discriminate against", "paragraphs": [ "para_127", "para_128", "para_129", "para_130", "para_131", "para_132", "para_133", "para_134" ] }, { "title": "Corp., 150 F.4th 792, 802 (7th Cir. 2025). Then, the burden shifts", "paragraphs": [ "para_136", "para_137" ] }, { "title": "U.S.C. § 2000e(j). This court reviews a grant of summary judg-", "paragraphs": [ "para_139" ] }, { "title": "We jump straight to the matter of undue hardship. (Like", "paragraphs": [ "para_141", "para_142", "para_143", "para_144", "para_145" ] }, { "title": "County. She maintains that her continued practice—working", "paragraphs": [ "para_147", "para_148", "para_149", "para_150", "para_151" ] }, { "title": "6 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "An organization suffers undue hardship when “granting", "paragraphs": [ "para_154", "para_155" ] }, { "title": "DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447, 470 (2023). This inquiry is fact-specific;", "paragraphs": [ "para_157", "para_158", "para_159" ] }, { "title": "150 F.4th at 803 (quoting Groff, 600 U.S. at 470–71). In similar", "paragraphs": [ "para_161", "para_162" ] }, { "title": "COVID-19 vaccine policies. See, e.g., Hall v. Sheppard Pratt", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Health Sys., Inc., 155 F.4th 747 (4th Cir. 2025) (affirming sum-", "paragraphs": [ "para_165", "para_166", "para_167", "para_168", "para_169", "para_170", "para_171" ] }, { "title": "2024 WL 4816856 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2024) (same for records", "paragraphs": [ "para_173" ] }, { "title": "We agree with the district court that the County made an", "paragraphs": [ "para_175", "para_176", "para_177", "para_178" ] }, { "title": "Chief Human Resources Officer, Equal Employment Oppor-", "paragraphs": [ "para_180", "para_181", "para_182", "para_183", "para_184" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 7", "paragraphs": [ "para_186", "para_187", "para_188", "para_189", "para_190", "para_191", "para_192", "para_193", "para_194", "para_195", "para_196" ] }, { "title": "Our dissenting colleague has no disagreement with the le-", "paragraphs": [ "para_198" ] }, { "title": "County failed to meet its burden to prove that accommodat-", "paragraphs": [ "para_200", "para_201" ] }, { "title": "Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. 768 (2015). But, as the Supreme", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Court has stated time and again, when assessing whether a", "paragraphs": [ "para_204", "para_205", "para_206", "para_207" ] }, { "title": "468 (noting that “‘undue hardship’ is shown when a burden", "paragraphs": [ "para_209", "para_210", "para_211" ] }, { "title": "She not only worked in the same room with numerous other", "paragraphs": [ "para_213", "para_214", "para_215", "para_216" ] }, { "title": "8 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_218", "para_219", "para_220", "para_221", "para_222" ] }, { "title": "This is not to say that the County could not have done", "paragraphs": [ "para_224", "para_225", "para_226", "para_227", "para_228", "para_229", "para_230", "para_231", "para_232", "para_233" ] }, { "title": "But, as our colleague acknowledges, the County did pre-", "paragraphs": [ "para_235", "para_236", "para_237", "para_238", "para_239", "para_240", "para_241", "para_242", "para_243", "para_244", "para_245", "para_246", "para_247", "para_248" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 9", "paragraphs": [ "para_250", "para_251", "para_252" ] }, { "title": "COVID-19, including persons who are immunocompro-", "paragraphs": [ "para_254", "para_255", "para_256", "para_257", "para_258" ] }, { "title": "County could have provided more, but given the particular-", "paragraphs": [ "para_260", "para_261" ] }, { "title": "See, e.g., Peterson, 150 F.4th at 1219 (firefighters); Hall, 155 F.4th", "paragraphs": [ "para_263" ] }, { "title": "On the other side of the ledger, Mason provided no evi-", "paragraphs": [ "para_265", "para_266", "para_267", "para_268", "para_269", "para_270", "para_271", "para_272", "para_273" ] }, { "title": "19; or that vaccination provides additional protection from se-", "paragraphs": [ "para_275", "para_276", "para_277", "para_278" ] }, { "title": "10 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_280" ] }, { "title": "County in the first instance. But when gauging the sufficiency", "paragraphs": [ "para_282", "para_283" ] }, { "title": "That said, Mason does challenge the County’s overall con-", "paragraphs": [ "para_285", "para_286", "para_287" ] }, { "title": "County allowed Sanitarian I to keep working even though it", "paragraphs": [ "para_289", "para_290" ] }, { "title": "In October 2021, Sanitarian I replied to the County-wide", "paragraphs": [ "para_292", "para_293", "para_294", "para_295", "para_296", "para_297" ] }, { "title": "Resources emailed the employee telling her to unblind her", "paragraphs": [ "para_299" ] }, { "title": "After a few months of back-and-forth, Sanitarian I notified HR", "paragraphs": [ "para_301", "para_302" ] }, { "title": "Contrary to Mason’s contention, their situations are not", "paragraphs": [ "para_304", "para_305", "para_306" ] }, { "title": "Mason, the County did not know that the Sanitarian I", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Impacts on coworkers that “affect the overall business” may be consid-", "paragraphs": [ "para_309" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 11", "paragraphs": [ "para_311", "para_312", "para_313" ] }, { "title": "More significantly, once Human Resources realized that the", "paragraphs": [ "para_315", "para_316", "para_317", "para_318", "para_319" ] }, { "title": "Furthermore, Mason has not pointed to any evidence that", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Sanitarian I worked in-person (as she did) rather than re-", "paragraphs": [ "para_322", "para_323", "para_324", "para_325", "para_326", "para_327", "para_328", "para_329", "para_330" ] }, { "title": "B. Disparate Treatment Claim", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Mason also mounts a conclusory challenge to the district", "paragraphs": [ "para_333", "para_334", "para_335", "para_336", "para_337", "para_338", "para_339" ] }, { "title": "12 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "The district court correctly concluded that the two em-", "paragraphs": [ "para_342", "para_343", "para_344", "para_345", "para_346", "para_347", "para_348", "para_349" ] }, { "title": "I had completely different jobs, in different locations, with dif-", "paragraphs": [ "para_351" ] }, { "title": "Hospital in Chicago for Cook County Health, while Sanitar-", "paragraphs": [ "para_353" ] }, { "title": "Meadows, Illinois. What’s more, Sanitarian I—unlike Ma-", "paragraphs": [ "para_355", "para_356", "para_357" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 13", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "TAIBLESON, Circuit Judge, dissenting. For more than ten", "paragraphs": [ "para_360" ] }, { "title": "Cook County Health (“CCH”). She showed up for work", "paragraphs": [ "para_362", "para_363", "para_364", "para_365" ] }, { "title": "CCH fired her. CCH reasoned that vaccines were the best", "paragraphs": [ "para_367", "para_368", "para_369" ] }, { "title": "Mason sued Cook County under Title VII, and in my opin-", "paragraphs": [ "para_371", "para_372" ] }, { "title": "EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. 768, 775", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(2015). Instead, it “gives them favored treatment,” affirma-", "paragraphs": [ "para_375", "para_376", "para_377", "para_378", "para_379", "para_380", "para_381", "para_382", "para_383", "para_384" ] }, { "title": "The County has not made that showing. Indeed, it hasn’t", "paragraphs": [ "para_386", "para_387", "para_388" ] }, { "title": "COVID-19 transmission. That’s a start. But when it comes to", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "14 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_391", "para_392", "para_393", "para_394", "para_395", "para_396", "para_397", "para_398", "para_399" ] }, { "title": "And it is the County, not Mason, that bears the burden of", "paragraphs": [ "para_401", "para_402" ] }, { "title": "The federal courts have been flooded with Title VII claims", "paragraphs": [ "para_404", "para_405", "para_406", "para_407", "para_408", "para_409", "para_410", "para_411" ] }, { "title": "I. Background", "paragraphs": [ "para_413" ] }, { "title": "Beginning in 2010, Mason worked as a pharmacist at John", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, which is part of CCH. She was respon-", "paragraphs": [ "para_416", "para_417", "para_418", "para_419" ] }, { "title": "Once a month, she was assigned to counsel patients at the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 15", "paragraphs": [ "para_422", "para_423" ] }, { "title": "In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared", "paragraphs": [ "para_425", "para_426", "para_427", "para_428", "para_429", "para_430", "para_431", "para_432", "para_433", "para_434", "para_435" ] }, { "title": "During the summer of 2021—about a year and a half into", "paragraphs": [ "para_437", "para_438", "para_439", "para_440", "para_441", "para_442" ] }, { "title": "CDC’s recommendation that vaccination was the best way to", "paragraphs": [ "para_444", "para_445", "para_446", "para_447" ] }, { "title": "Shortly after CCH announced its policy, Mason submitted", "paragraphs": [ "para_449", "para_450", "para_451", "para_452" ] }, { "title": "16 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_454", "para_455", "para_456" ] }, { "title": "CCH’s original policy stated that exemption requests like", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Mason’s would be “considered individually,” evaluating fac-", "paragraphs": [ "para_459", "para_460", "para_461", "para_462", "para_463", "para_464", "para_465", "para_466" ] }, { "title": "CCH based that determination on the same CDC guidance", "paragraphs": [ "para_468", "para_469" ] }, { "title": "While some of Mason’s duties could be performed", "paragraphs": [ "para_471", "para_472", "para_473", "para_474", "para_475", "para_476", "para_477", "para_478" ] }, { "title": "CCH gave Mason 90 days of unpaid leave to search for an-", "paragraphs": [ "para_480", "para_481", "para_482", "para_483", "para_484" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 17", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "2022, CCH fired Mason for “[g]ross [i]nsubordination” given", "paragraphs": [ "para_487" ] }, { "title": "Meanwhile, another unvaccinated CCH employee—", "paragraphs": [ "para_489", "para_490", "para_491", "para_492", "para_493" ] }, { "title": "19 vaccine. The next day, a CCH senior public health official", "paragraphs": [ "para_495", "para_496", "para_497" ] }, { "title": "COVID test” as it was unclear whether she had received the", "paragraphs": [ "para_499", "para_500" ] }, { "title": "More than nine months later, in July of 2022, CCH official", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Anitha Nimmagadda followed up with Sanitarian I. Nim-", "paragraphs": [ "para_503", "para_504", "para_505", "para_506", "para_507", "para_508", "para_509", "para_510", "para_511" ] }, { "title": "1 A sanitarian primarily “conduct[s] health and sanitation inspec-", "paragraphs": [ "para_513" ] }, { "title": "McDonald v. Vill. of Palatine, Ill., 524 F. App’x 286, 288 (7th Cir. 2013); see", "paragraphs": [ "para_515", "para_516" ] }, { "title": "18 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "October 12, Sanitarian I finally informed Nimmagadda that", "paragraphs": [ "para_519", "para_520", "para_521" ] }, { "title": "CCH’s vaccination policy for more than a year, nothing in the", "paragraphs": [ "para_523", "para_524" ] }, { "title": "After her termination, Mason sued Cook County under Ti-", "paragraphs": [ "para_526", "para_527", "para_528", "para_529" ] }, { "title": "Mason was deposed and answered interrogatories. She also", "paragraphs": [ "para_531" ] }, { "title": "County, for its part, produced sworn affidavits from CCH of-", "paragraphs": [ "para_533", "para_534" ] }, { "title": "They came from three CCH officials: (1) the Associate Chief", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Human Resources Officer, (2) the Department Chair of Infec-", "paragraphs": [ "para_537", "para_538", "para_539", "para_540", "para_541", "para_542", "para_543", "para_544", "para_545", "para_546" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 19", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Like the policy itself, the affidavits recite public health", "paragraphs": [ "para_549" ] }, { "title": "COVID-19. Beyond that, the explanation for why alternatives", "paragraphs": [ "para_551", "para_552", "para_553", "para_554", "para_555", "para_556" ] }, { "title": "(Pramuk-Volk Affidavit);", "paragraphs": [ "para_558", "para_559", "para_560", "para_561" ] }, { "title": "In 2021, unvaccinated persons were found to be more", "paragraphs": [ "para_563", "para_564" ] }, { "title": "(Welbel Affidavit);", "paragraphs": [ "para_566" ] }, { "title": "Hospital required her to work at the hospital, in per-", "paragraphs": [ "para_568", "para_569", "para_570" ] }, { "title": "Volk Affidavit, ¶ 29 (same with slight wording differ-", "paragraphs": [ "para_572" ] }, { "title": "On that record, the County moved for summary judg-", "paragraphs": [ "para_574", "para_575", "para_576", "para_577" ] }, { "title": "20 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_579", "para_580", "para_581", "para_582" ] }, { "title": "II. Discussion", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it an “un-", "paragraphs": [ "para_585", "para_586", "para_587", "para_588", "para_589" ] }, { "title": "2(a)(1). The statute defines “religion” to “include[] all aspects", "paragraphs": [ "para_591", "para_592", "para_593", "para_594", "para_595" ] }, { "title": "Title VII thus “prohibits employers from discriminating", "paragraphs": [ "para_597", "para_598" ] }, { "title": "2013), just as it prohibits discrimination based on characteris-", "paragraphs": [ "para_600", "para_601", "para_602", "para_603", "para_604", "para_605", "para_606" ] }, { "title": "In this case, Mason alleges that CCH violated Title VII in", "paragraphs": [ "para_608" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 21", "paragraphs": [ "para_610", "para_611", "para_612", "para_613" ] }, { "title": "A. Failure to Accommodate", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Religious accommodation cases follow a burden-shifting", "paragraphs": [ "para_616" ] }, { "title": "792, 802 (7th Cir. 2025). Mason must first establish a prima facie", "paragraphs": [ "para_618", "para_619", "para_620", "para_621", "para_622", "para_623", "para_624" ] }, { "title": "The majority, like the district court, assumes that Mason", "paragraphs": [ "para_626", "para_627", "para_628" ] }, { "title": "On this point, Mason carries a “low burden,” requiring her to", "paragraphs": [ "para_630", "para_631", "para_632", "para_633", "para_634", "para_635" ] }, { "title": "1005, 1009–10 (7th Cir. 2024). Here, nothing in the record re-", "paragraphs": [ "para_637", "para_638" ] }, { "title": "Bube v. Aspirus Hosp., Inc., 108 F.4th 1017, 1020 (7th Cir. 2024)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "22 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(“courts should avoid putting themselves in the impossible", "paragraphs": [ "para_642" ] }, { "title": "The real dispute in this case concerns undue hardship, an", "paragraphs": [ "para_644", "para_645", "para_646" ] }, { "title": "To prevail on this point, the County must prove that accom-", "paragraphs": [ "para_648", "para_649", "para_650", "para_651", "para_652", "para_653" ] }, { "title": "LLC v. Nat’l Ret. Fund, 778 F.3d 593, 601 (7th Cir. 2015) (ex-", "paragraphs": [ "para_655", "para_656", "para_657", "para_658" ] }, { "title": "As the majority recounts, the County’s undue-hardship", "paragraphs": [ "para_660", "para_661", "para_662", "para_663", "para_664", "para_665", "para_666", "para_667", "para_668", "para_669" ] }, { "title": "With that evidence, the County is off to a good start in ex-", "paragraphs": [ "para_671" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 23", "paragraphs": [ "para_673", "para_674", "para_675", "para_676", "para_677", "para_678", "para_679", "para_680", "para_681", "para_682" ] }, { "title": "In Groff v. DeJoy, for example, the Postal Service reasona-", "paragraphs": [ "para_684", "para_685", "para_686", "para_687" ] }, { "title": "Sundays, however, the Postal Service had to do much more", "paragraphs": [ "para_689", "para_690", "para_691", "para_692", "para_693", "para_694", "para_695", "para_696", "para_697", "para_698" ] }, { "title": "Similarly, in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., Aber-", "paragraphs": [ "para_700", "para_701", "para_702", "para_703" ] }, { "title": "24 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_705" ] }, { "title": "VII required more than “mere neutrality” from Abercrombie", "paragraphs": [ "para_707", "para_708", "para_709", "para_710" ] }, { "title": "When it comes to religious accommodations, then, an em-", "paragraphs": [ "para_712", "para_713", "para_714", "para_715", "para_716", "para_717", "para_718", "para_719", "para_720", "para_721", "para_722", "para_723", "para_724", "para_725", "para_726", "para_727", "para_728", "para_729", "para_730", "para_731", "para_732", "para_733", "para_734" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 25", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "The thin record here is particularly glaring given that Ma-", "paragraphs": [ "para_737", "para_738", "para_739", "para_740", "para_741", "para_742", "para_743", "para_744", "para_745", "para_746", "para_747", "para_748", "para_749", "para_750" ] }, { "title": "To be sure, the County’s affidavits do state that CCH “de-", "paragraphs": [ "para_752", "para_753", "para_754", "para_755", "para_756", "para_757", "para_758", "para_759", "para_760" ] }, { "title": "2026 WL 2451427, at *9. The record is devoid of such facts and", "paragraphs": [ "para_762", "para_763", "para_764" ] }, { "title": "Nor does the County offer evidence that CCH was overrun", "paragraphs": [ "para_766", "para_767" ] }, { "title": "26 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_769", "para_770", "para_771", "para_772", "para_773" ] }, { "title": "JAB Mgmt. Servs., Inc., 126 F.4th 1250, 1258 (7th Cir. 2025)—", "paragraphs": [ "para_775" ] }, { "title": "CCH’s blanket “determination” that nothing other than", "paragraphs": [ "para_777", "para_778", "para_779", "para_780", "para_781", "para_782", "para_783" ] }, { "title": "CCH had yet to even follow up with Sanitarian I about her", "paragraphs": [ "para_785", "para_786", "para_787", "para_788", "para_789" ] }, { "title": "2 The County argues there is no evidence that CCH was informed of", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Sanitarian I’s vaccination status because Sanitarian I never formally sub-", "paragraphs": [ "para_792", "para_793", "para_794", "para_795" ] }, { "title": "Medical Officer at CCH’s Department of Public Health, responded to San-", "paragraphs": [ "para_797", "para_798", "para_799", "para_800" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 27", "paragraphs": [ "para_802", "para_803", "para_804" ] }, { "title": "In concluding otherwise, the majority emphasizes the", "paragraphs": [ "para_806", "para_807" ] }, { "title": "Those challenges were real and they are certainly relevant", "paragraphs": [ "para_809", "para_810", "para_811", "para_812", "para_813", "para_814", "para_815", "para_816", "para_817", "para_818", "para_819", "para_820" ] }, { "title": "Title VII has no exceptions for hospitals or pandemics, and the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "County’s hand-waving about COVID-19’s challenges cannot", "paragraphs": [ "para_823", "para_824" ] }, { "title": "The majority also cites decisions from our sister circuits", "paragraphs": [ "para_826", "para_827" ] }, { "title": "6. And to be fair, I am aware of no circuit decision going the", "paragraphs": [ "para_829", "para_830", "para_831" ] }, { "title": "County’s evidence here. In Petersen v. Snohomish Regional Fire", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "28 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_834", "para_835", "para_836", "para_837", "para_838" ] }, { "title": "(9th Cir. 2025). In addition, the employer established that al-", "paragraphs": [ "para_840", "para_841", "para_842", "para_843", "para_844" ] }, { "title": "Sheppard Pratt Health Sys., Inc., 155 F.4th 747, 750, 753–54 (4th", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Cir. 2025) (affirming summary judgment for hospital where", "paragraphs": [ "para_847", "para_848", "para_849", "para_850" ] }, { "title": "2024 WL 4816856, at *6 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2024) (affirming", "paragraphs": [ "para_852", "para_853", "para_854" ] }, { "title": "Petersen set the bar for an undue-hardship showing, then the", "paragraphs": [ "para_856" ] }, { "title": "In sum, the County failed to substantiate its claim that ac-", "paragraphs": [ "para_858", "para_859", "para_860", "para_861", "para_862" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 29", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "B. Disparate Treatment", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "As the majority implies, Mason gave her disparate-", "paragraphs": [ "para_866", "para_867", "para_868", "para_869", "para_870", "para_871", "para_872" ] }, { "title": "The “singular question” at the heart of Mason’s disparate-", "paragraphs": [ "para_874", "para_875" ] }, { "title": "598, 602 (7th Cir. 2020); see also Abercrombie, 575 U.S. at 773", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(“Title VII … prohibit[s] even making a protected characteris-", "paragraphs": [ "para_878" ] }, { "title": "42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)). To show that it was, Mason can point", "paragraphs": [ "para_880", "para_881", "para_882" ] }, { "title": "In my view, the evidence about Sanitarian I could support", "paragraphs": [ "para_884", "para_885", "para_886", "para_887" ] }, { "title": "Exxon Mobil Corp., 143 F.4th 800, 809 (7th Cir. 2025) (citation", "paragraphs": [ "para_889", "para_890", "para_891", "para_892", "para_893", "para_894" ] }, { "title": "30 No. 25-2743", "paragraphs": [ "para_896" ] }, { "title": "2008) (“All things being equal, if an employer takes an action", "paragraphs": [ "para_898", "para_899" ] }, { "title": "Langfelder, 52 F.4th 349, 354 (7th Cir. 2022) (“If a comparator", "paragraphs": [ "para_901", "para_902", "para_903" ] }, { "title": "The majority disagrees, finding that Sanitarian I was not", "paragraphs": [ "para_905" ] }, { "title": "Op. at 12. But we have “warned against using a mechanical", "paragraphs": [ "para_907" ] }, { "title": "Advoc. Health and Hosps. Corp., 892 F.3d 887, 895 (7th Cir. 2018)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(citation omitted). Rather, “[s]imilarly situated means ‘di-", "paragraphs": [ "para_910", "para_911", "para_912" ] }, { "title": "(explaining that the purpose of the “similarly situated inquiry", "paragraphs": [ "para_914", "para_915", "para_916" ] }, { "title": "Here, that inquiry suggests that Mason and Sanitarian I", "paragraphs": [ "para_918", "para_919", "para_920", "para_921", "para_922", "para_923", "para_924", "para_925", "para_926" ] }, { "title": "No. 25-2743 31", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "The majority’s emphasis on other distinctions between", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Mason and Sanitarian I misses the mark. That Mason and San-", "paragraphs": [ "para_930", "para_931", "para_932", "para_933", "para_934", "para_935", "para_936", "para_937", "para_938", "para_939", "para_940" ] }, { "title": "In my opinion, then, a jury should get to hear Mason’s", "paragraphs": [ "para_942", "para_943" ] }, { "title": "There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic was", "paragraphs": [ "para_945" ] }, { "title": "CCH was no exception. But “even in a pandemic,” the law", "paragraphs": [ "para_947", "para_948" ] }, { "title": "CCH’s blanket refusal to accommodate its in-person religious", "paragraphs": [ "para_950", "para_951" ] } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "In the", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "United States Court of Appeals", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "For the Seventh Circuit", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "BROOKE MASON,", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "Plaintiff-Appellant,", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "v.", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS,", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "Defendant-Appellee.", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "Appeal from the United States District Court for the", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "No. 1:23-cv-16339 — Matthew F. Kennelly, Judge.", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "ARGUED JUNE 2, 2026 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 28, 2026", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "Before JACKSON-AKIWUMI, LEE, and TAIBLESON, Circuit", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "Judges.", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "LEE, Circuit Judge. Brooke Mason was fired from her job as", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "a hospital pharmacist after she refused to obtain a COVID-19", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "vaccine, purportedly for religious reasons. She sued Cook", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "County for religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "the Civil Rights Act of 1964. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). The", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "district court granted summary judgment to the County, find-", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "ing no dispute of material fact that the County would have", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "2 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "faced undue hardship by exempting Mason from the manda-", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "tory vaccine policy. We affirm.", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "I", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "We construe the facts in the light most favorable to Mason,", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "the party opposing summary judgment. Lohmeier v. Gottlieb", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "Mem’l Hosp., 147 F.4th 817, 821 (7th Cir. 2025). Mason was an", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "employee of Cook County Health, which is operated by Cook", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "County (collectively, “the County”). The County operates", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, where Mason worked as a phar-", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "macist from 2010 through May 2022. She worked in a room", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "with twenty other pharmacists and forty pharmacy techni-", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "cians. She also counseled patients from the pharmacy win-", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "dow one day per month, and she brought medications to the", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "floor of the hospital where patients with COVID-19 were", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "treated.", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "The COVID-19 pandemic strained the County’s already", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "short-staffed healthcare system. Alongside a wave of infec-", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "tions in the general population, hospital staff contracted the", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "virus at increasingly high rates. Seeking to limit the spread of", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "COVID-19, the County implemented a policy in August 2021", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "mandating that staff members receive the COVID-19 vaccine", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "by October 2021.", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "The County based this policy on guidance from federal", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "and state public health authorities. The Center for Disease", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "Control and Prevention (CDC) found that COVID-19 vaccina-", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "tion was the best way to reduce transmission and prevent se-", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "vere illness, hospitalization, and death. Other evidence had", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "shown a vicious cycle of infection within hospitals: healthcare", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "workers faced increased risk of contracting COVID-19", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "through patients and fellow staff, and healthcare workers in", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 3", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "turn faced increased risk of infecting their medically vulnera-", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "ble patients. The County determined that other mitigation", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "methods alone, such as masking, social distancing, and test-", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "ing, did not sufficiently address patient and employee safety.", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "Employees could request an exemption from this policy", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "based on a sincerely held religious belief. Based on guidance", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "from the County’s Infection Control and Epidemiology De-", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "partment and the CDC, the County determined that exemp-", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "tions could be granted only to employees whose jobs could be", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "performed fully remotely. Even employees not engaged in di-", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "rect patient care needed to be vaccinated for in-person work,", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "the County determined, because they had close contact with", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "other employees who did have patient care duties. Approxi-", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "mately 102 Cook County Health employees sought a religious", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "exemption; exemptions were granted to 9 who could work re-", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "motely.", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "In September 2021, Mason requested an exemption from", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "the vaccine mandate based on her Christian faith. Her request", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "quoted 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Or do you not know that your", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "have from God? You are not your own for you were bought", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "with a price. So glorify God in your body.” She further de-", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "scribed why vaccination conflicted with her faith:", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "I am unable to comply with Cook County Health’s", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "Covid vaccine mandate as it runs counter to my Chris-", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "tian beliefs and request an accommodation. My beliefs", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "are an all encompassing guide, leading my daily life", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "and central to these beliefs is the requirement to keep", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "my body and soul pure. Although I am not perfect I", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "strive to honor the Lord our Savior in all I do. God’s", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "word tells us to keep thy body pure: My body is the", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "4 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "temple of the Holy Spirit and shall not be defiled. I am", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "fully immunized as the good Lord intended. Thank", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "you for your consideration.", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "The County informed Mason that it could not grant her re-", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "quest because doing so would “compromise workplace", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "safety… [and] pose an undue hardship.” The County allowed", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "Mason 90 days to apply to a remote position within their sys-", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "tem, but no such positions were available. At the end of this", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "90-day period, in May 2022, the County fired Mason.", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "Mason filed this lawsuit in November 2023. She asserted", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "that the County’s denial of religious accommodation and later", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "discharge violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). She also alluded to a discrimination", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "claim based on disparate treatment, stating that another", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "County employee with the title “Sanitarian I” violated the", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "vaccine policy but was not fired like she was. This employee,", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "who worked in Rolling Meadows for the Department of Pub-", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "lic Health (an affiliate of Cook County Health), was partici-", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "pating in a blind study on the COVID-19 vaccine but ulti-", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "mately received the vaccine.", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "The County moved for summary judgment, and the dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "trict court granted the motion. The court assumed Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "could establish a prima facie case of religious discrimination", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "(based on the County’s failure to accommodate a religious be-", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "lief) but concluded that no reasonable juror could find that the", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "County could accommodate her request without suffering", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "undue hardship. Allowing her to work unvaccinated during", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "a public health crisis would have “jeopardized the health of", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "[County] staff and patients.” The court also determined that", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "the Sanitarian I employee was not similarly situated to Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 5", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "because that employee did not work at Stroger Hospital, so", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "the disparate treatment claim failed.", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "II", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "A. Failure-to-Accommodate Claim", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "Under Title VII, an employer may not discriminate against", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "any individual with respect to their employment because of", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "the individual’s religion. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). To sustain", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "a claim for failure to accommodate a religious belief, an em-", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "ployee needs to establish that (1) her belief was religious and", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "conflicted with her employer’s requirements, (2) she notified", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "her employer of her religious belief, and (3) her need for a re-", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "ligious accommodation was a motivating factor in the adverse", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "employment decision. See Kluge v. Brownsburg Cmty. Sch.", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "Corp., 150 F.4th 792, 802 (7th Cir. 2025). Then, the burden shifts", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "to the employer to show that any reasonable accommodation", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "would have resulted in undue hardship. Id. at 802–03; 42", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "U.S.C. § 2000e(j). This court reviews a grant of summary judg-", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "ment de novo. Lohmeier, 147 F.4th at 825.", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "We jump straight to the matter of undue hardship. (Like", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "the district court, we assume without deciding that Mason has", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "stated a prima facie case of failure to accommodate based on", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "a sincerely held religious belief). Mason challenges the district", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "court’s conclusion that no reasonable juror could find that ac-", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "commodating her would not cause undue hardship to the", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "County. She maintains that her continued practice—working", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "unvaccinated, using other transmission-prevention methods", "paragraph_id": "para_147" }, { "text": "such as masking and social distancing—could not possibly", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "impose additional costs because that “was exactly what she", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "had been doing until the moment she was forbidden from do-", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "ing it.”", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "6 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "An organization suffers undue hardship when “granting", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” Groff v.", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447, 470 (2023). This inquiry is fact-specific;", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "courts look to “all relevant factors … including the particular", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "accommodations at issue and their practical impact in light of", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "the nature, size, and operating cost” of the employer. Kluge,", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "150 F.4th at 803 (quoting Groff, 600 U.S. at 470–71). In similar", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "factual scenarios, several of our sister circuits have upheld", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "findings of undue hardship regarding religious exemptions to", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "COVID-19 vaccine policies. See, e.g., Hall v. Sheppard Pratt", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "Health Sys., Inc., 155 F.4th 747 (4th Cir. 2025) (affirming sum-", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "mary judgment because allowing admissions coordinator at a", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "clinic to work unvaccinated would have constituted undue", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "hardship for hospital system by jeopardizing patient and em-", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "ployee safety and increasing risk of disruptive outbreaks in a", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "sensitive environment); Peterson v. Snohomish Reg’l Fire & Res-", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "cue, 150 F.4th 1211 (9th Cir. 2025) (same for firefighters at fire", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "department); Kizer v. St. Jude Child.’s Rsch. Hosp., No. 24-5207,", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "2024 WL 4816856 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2024) (same for records", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "analyst at hospital).", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "We agree with the district court that the County made an", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "adequate showing at this stage that accommodating Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "could not be accomplished without undue hardship, and that", "paragraph_id": "para_176" }, { "text": "no triable issues of material fact remained. At summary judg-", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "ment, the County provided declarations from its Associate", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "Chief Human Resources Officer, Equal Employment Oppor-", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "tunity Director, and Department Chair of Infection Control", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "and Epidemiology. They describe the County’s decision-mak-", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "ing process regarding the protective measures taken through-", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "out the pandemic, explaining that the County’s operations", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "had been jeopardized by healthcare workers’ high risk of", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 7", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "contracting and transmitting COVID-19 compared to the gen-", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "eral population. According to these individuals, outbreaks", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "among staff strained the County’s ability to provide necessary", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "services, and vaccination afforded additional protection", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "against the increased risk of staff contracting COVID-19 and", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "infecting medically vulnerable patients. Thus, once the vac-", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "cine was available, the County determined, based on scientific", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "research and CDC guidance, that masking and social distanc-", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "ing alone did not adequately reduce risks to patient and em-", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "ployee safety nor the operational costs of likely staff short-", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "ages. See Peterson, 150 F.4th at 1218–20.", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "Our dissenting colleague has no disagreement with the le-", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "gal framework the district court applied but believes that the", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "County failed to meet its burden to prove that accommodat-", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "ing Mason would have caused an undue hardship to its oper-", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "ations, citing Groff, 600 U.S. 447, and EEOC v. Abercrombie and", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. 768 (2015). But, as the Supreme", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "Court has stated time and again, when assessing whether a", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "requested accommodation amounts to an “undue hardship,”", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "we cannot consider the accommodation in isolation but must", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "consider it “in the context of an employer’s business” in a", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "“common sense manner.” Groff, 600 U.S. at 471. See also id. at", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "468 (noting that “‘undue hardship’ is shown when a burden", "paragraph_id": "para_208" }, { "text": "is substantial in the overall context of an employer’s busi-", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "ness.”).", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "Here, Mason worked as a pharmacist in a hospital setting.", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "She not only worked in the same room with numerous other", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "pharmacists and technicians, but, as a pharmacist, she regu-", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "larly interacted with patients and visited patient floors, where", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "the risks and consequences of spreading the COVID-19 virus", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "were high. This context is markedly different from Groff,", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "8 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "where an employee’s religion precluded him from delivering", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "mail for the Postal Service on Sundays, and from Abercrombie,", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "where an employee’s religious beliefs prevented her from", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "complying with the store’s no-headwear policy. Groff,", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "600 U.S. at 454–55; Abercrombie, 575 U.S. at 770.", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "This is not to say that the County could not have done", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "more in this case. For example, it could have presented expert", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "testimony detailing why individual masking and social dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "tancing would not have adequately protected the hospital’s", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "patients and employees from the virus as compared to uni-", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "versal vaccination (although the affidavits do cite to applica-", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "ble CDC guidance and scientific studies on those points). And", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "it could have recounted in detail the analytical steps it took to", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "arrive at this conclusion as well as, perhaps, a roster of the", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "different positions at the hospital where an employee with", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "Mason’s qualifications could work.", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "But, as our colleague acknowledges, the County did pre-", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "sent affidavits attesting that “other mitigation methods, such", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "as masking, social distancing, and regular COVID-19 testing", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "did not sufficiently address the patient and employee safety", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "risks across its facilities.” For example, one affiant stated that", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "the County’s “decision to only allow vaccinated employees to", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "work in patient-facing and employee-facing roles in person", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "was based on the CDC’s recommendation that vaccination is", "paragraph_id": "para_241" }, { "text": "the best way to protect against severe illness, hospitalization", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "and death, and the best way to reduce transmission.” Moreo-", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "ver, the County’s own experiences in 2020 and 2021 alerted its", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "leaders “that healthcare workers were at increased risk of con-", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "tracting COVID-19 through infected patients and other", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "healthcare staff, and that healthcare workers were at in-", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "creased risk of infecting patients, including individuals who", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 9", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "were medically vulnerable.” Another affiant added, “Health", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "care workers at [the facility] are in regular contact with per-", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "sons at increased risk of serious complications and death from", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "COVID-19, including persons who are immunocompro-", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "mised, have other comorbidities, and/or are elderly.”", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "The dissent believes such statements are too conclusory,", "paragraph_id": "para_255" }, { "text": "likening them to “mere assertions” of undue hardships rather", "paragraph_id": "para_256" }, { "text": "than facts. The statements by the County witnesses, however,", "paragraph_id": "para_257" }, { "text": "offer facts, not conclusory assertions of law. To be sure, the", "paragraph_id": "para_258" }, { "text": "County could have provided more, but given the particular-", "paragraph_id": "para_259" }, { "text": "ized challenges COVID-19 presented in the hospital setting,", "paragraph_id": "para_260" }, { "text": "what the County provided was sufficient to satisfy its burden.", "paragraph_id": "para_261" }, { "text": "See, e.g., Peterson, 150 F.4th at 1219 (firefighters); Hall, 155 F.4th", "paragraph_id": "para_262" }, { "text": "at 753 (employee at eating disorders clinic).", "paragraph_id": "para_263" }, { "text": "On the other side of the ledger, Mason provided no evi-", "paragraph_id": "para_264" }, { "text": "dence that her proposed accommodation (continuing to mask", "paragraph_id": "para_265" }, { "text": "and social distance) would have been a reasonable alternative", "paragraph_id": "para_266" }, { "text": "to vaccination. She does not contest, for instance, that vaccina-", "paragraph_id": "para_267" }, { "text": "tion was more effective than masking or social distancing, or", "paragraph_id": "para_268" }, { "text": "that the mission of Cook County Health was to provide “the", "paragraph_id": "para_269" }, { "text": "safest care possible.” Nor does she deny that she worked in a", "paragraph_id": "para_270" }, { "text": "room with sixty other employees; that she counseled patients", "paragraph_id": "para_271" }, { "text": "directly at least once per month; that she delivered medication", "paragraph_id": "para_272" }, { "text": "to a hospital floor dedicated to treating patients with COVID-", "paragraph_id": "para_273" }, { "text": "19; or that vaccination provides additional protection from se-", "paragraph_id": "para_274" }, { "text": "vere illness and transmission of COVID-19 as compared to", "paragraph_id": "para_275" }, { "text": "masking.† Of course, our dissenting colleague is correct that", "paragraph_id": "para_276" }, { "text": "† To the extent Mason challenges the district court’s consideration of", "paragraph_id": "para_277" }, { "text": "the impact of an exemption on her coworkers, the court did not err.", "paragraph_id": "para_278" }, { "text": "10 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_279" }, { "text": "the burden to establish “undue hardship” lies with the", "paragraph_id": "para_280" }, { "text": "County in the first instance. But when gauging the sufficiency", "paragraph_id": "para_281" }, { "text": "of the County’s evidence, it is fair to consider if its factual con-", "paragraph_id": "para_282" }, { "text": "tentions are undisputed as they are here.", "paragraph_id": "para_283" }, { "text": "That said, Mason does challenge the County’s overall con-", "paragraph_id": "para_284" }, { "text": "tention that accommodating her would have caused an undue", "paragraph_id": "para_285" }, { "text": "hardship by pointing to another employee (whom both par-", "paragraph_id": "para_286" }, { "text": "ties refer to as “Sanitarian I”). According to Mason, the", "paragraph_id": "para_287" }, { "text": "County allowed Sanitarian I to keep working even though it", "paragraph_id": "para_288" }, { "text": "knew the individual was unvaccinated. But the comparison is", "paragraph_id": "para_289" }, { "text": "inapt.", "paragraph_id": "para_290" }, { "text": "In October 2021, Sanitarian I replied to the County-wide", "paragraph_id": "para_291" }, { "text": "email about the vaccine policy, explaining she was participat-", "paragraph_id": "para_292" }, { "text": "ing in a blind study on the COVID-19 vaccine and, as a result,", "paragraph_id": "para_293" }, { "text": "she did not know whether she had received a vaccine or a pla-", "paragraph_id": "para_294" }, { "text": "cebo. A Public Health Medical Officer replied, suggesting she", "paragraph_id": "para_295" }, { "text": "ask for an exemption. In June 2022, upon noting internally", "paragraph_id": "para_296" }, { "text": "that the employee had not applied for an exemption, Human", "paragraph_id": "para_297" }, { "text": "Resources emailed the employee telling her to unblind her", "paragraph_id": "para_298" }, { "text": "study participation and ensure compliance with the policy.", "paragraph_id": "para_299" }, { "text": "After a few months of back-and-forth, Sanitarian I notified HR", "paragraph_id": "para_300" }, { "text": "that she had learned she had received the placebo vaccine in", "paragraph_id": "para_301" }, { "text": "the study and promptly obtained the COVID-19 vaccination.", "paragraph_id": "para_302" }, { "text": "Contrary to Mason’s contention, their situations are not", "paragraph_id": "para_303" }, { "text": "analogous, and the County’s treatment of Sanitarian I does", "paragraph_id": "para_304" }, { "text": "not support Mason’s argument that the County would not", "paragraph_id": "para_305" }, { "text": "have faced undue hardship by accommodating her. Unlike", "paragraph_id": "para_306" }, { "text": "Mason, the County did not know that the Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_307" }, { "text": "Impacts on coworkers that “affect the overall business” may be consid-", "paragraph_id": "para_308" }, { "text": "ered. Kluge, 150 F.4th at 803 (quoting Groff, 600 U.S. at 472).", "paragraph_id": "para_309" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 11", "paragraph_id": "para_310" }, { "text": "employee was unvaccinated. Instead, at least one person at", "paragraph_id": "para_311" }, { "text": "the County was aware that the employee had received either", "paragraph_id": "para_312" }, { "text": "the vaccine or a placebo as part of her study participation.", "paragraph_id": "para_313" }, { "text": "More significantly, once Human Resources realized that the", "paragraph_id": "para_314" }, { "text": "employee might not be in compliance with the vaccine policy,", "paragraph_id": "para_315" }, { "text": "the County actively sought to confirm the employee’s vac-", "paragraph_id": "para_316" }, { "text": "cination status, required her to unblind her study participa-", "paragraph_id": "para_317" }, { "text": "tion, and required prompt vaccination once she learned she", "paragraph_id": "para_318" }, { "text": "had received the placebo.", "paragraph_id": "para_319" }, { "text": "Furthermore, Mason has not pointed to any evidence that", "paragraph_id": "para_320" }, { "text": "Sanitarian I worked in-person (as she did) rather than re-", "paragraph_id": "para_321" }, { "text": "motely, or that the employee had frequent interactions with", "paragraph_id": "para_322" }, { "text": "patients and staff (again, as she did). Meanwhile, the County", "paragraph_id": "para_323" }, { "text": "presented evidence that Mason’s position did not allow her to", "paragraph_id": "para_324" }, { "text": "work remotely and required regular close contact with other", "paragraph_id": "para_325" }, { "text": "pharmacists and patients. To the extent Mason believes that", "paragraph_id": "para_326" }, { "text": "the County’s treatment of Sanitarian I undermines its claim of", "paragraph_id": "para_327" }, { "text": "undue hardship, she was required to point to evidence in the", "paragraph_id": "para_328" }, { "text": "record, but she has failed to do so. See Swetlik v. Crawford,", "paragraph_id": "para_329" }, { "text": "738 F.3d 818, 829 (7th Cir. 2013).", "paragraph_id": "para_330" }, { "text": "B. Disparate Treatment Claim", "paragraph_id": "para_331" }, { "text": "Mason also mounts a conclusory challenge to the district", "paragraph_id": "para_332" }, { "text": "court’s determination that she could not identify an apt com-", "paragraph_id": "para_333" }, { "text": "parator to make out a disparate treatment claim of religious", "paragraph_id": "para_334" }, { "text": "discrimination. She again invokes the example of the Sanitar-", "paragraph_id": "para_335" }, { "text": "ian I employee who was not fired, even though she argues", "paragraph_id": "para_336" }, { "text": "that employee committed the same policy violation. Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_337" }, { "text": "emphasizes that they were similarly situated because both", "paragraph_id": "para_338" }, { "text": "worked in person and were subject to the vaccine policy.", "paragraph_id": "para_339" }, { "text": "12 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_340" }, { "text": "The district court correctly concluded that the two em-", "paragraph_id": "para_341" }, { "text": "ployees were not comparable. A similarly situated employee", "paragraph_id": "para_342" }, { "text": "must be “directly comparable” to the plaintiff “in all material", "paragraph_id": "para_343" }, { "text": "respects,” meaning they held the same job, committed the", "paragraph_id": "para_344" }, { "text": "same policy violation, did not hold the same religious beliefs,", "paragraph_id": "para_345" }, { "text": "and were treated more favorably. See Patterson v. Ind. Newspa-", "paragraph_id": "para_346" }, { "text": "pers, Inc., 589 F.3d 357, 365–66 (7th Cir. 2009). Typically, the", "paragraph_id": "para_347" }, { "text": "similarly situated employee also must report to the same su-", "paragraph_id": "para_348" }, { "text": "pervisor. Lohmeier, 147 F.4th at 826. But Mason and Sanitarian", "paragraph_id": "para_349" }, { "text": "I had completely different jobs, in different locations, with dif-", "paragraph_id": "para_350" }, { "text": "ferent supervisors. Mason worked as a pharmacist at Stroger", "paragraph_id": "para_351" }, { "text": "Hospital in Chicago for Cook County Health, while Sanitar-", "paragraph_id": "para_352" }, { "text": "ian I worked for the Department of Public Health in Rolling", "paragraph_id": "para_353" }, { "text": "Meadows, Illinois. What’s more, Sanitarian I—unlike Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_354" }, { "text": "son—neither sought nor was granted an exemption.", "paragraph_id": "para_355" }, { "text": "* * *", "paragraph_id": "para_356" }, { "text": "The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.", "paragraph_id": "para_357" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 13", "paragraph_id": "para_358" }, { "text": "TAIBLESON, Circuit Judge, dissenting. For more than ten", "paragraph_id": "para_359" }, { "text": "years, Brooke Mason worked as a hospital pharmacist for", "paragraph_id": "para_360" }, { "text": "Cook County Health (“CCH”). She showed up for work", "paragraph_id": "para_361" }, { "text": "through the uncertain early days of the COVID-19 pandemic", "paragraph_id": "para_362" }, { "text": "in 2020 and 2021. She masked, she socially distanced, and she", "paragraph_id": "para_363" }, { "text": "tested. When COVID-19 vaccines became available, Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_364" }, { "text": "declined to receive one, citing her religious beliefs. For that,", "paragraph_id": "para_365" }, { "text": "CCH fired her. CCH reasoned that vaccines were the best", "paragraph_id": "para_366" }, { "text": "method to avoid COVID-19 transmission and declined to", "paragraph_id": "para_367" }, { "text": "grant religious exemptions to any in-person employees—and", "paragraph_id": "para_368" }, { "text": "that was that.", "paragraph_id": "para_369" }, { "text": "Mason sued Cook County under Title VII, and in my opin-", "paragraph_id": "para_370" }, { "text": "ion, her case should proceed to trial. Title VII “does not de-", "paragraph_id": "para_371" }, { "text": "mand mere neutrality with regard to religious practices.”", "paragraph_id": "para_372" }, { "text": "EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 575 U.S. 768, 775", "paragraph_id": "para_373" }, { "text": "(2015). Instead, it “gives them favored treatment,” affirma-", "paragraph_id": "para_374" }, { "text": "tively requiring employers to accommodate their employees’", "paragraph_id": "para_375" }, { "text": "religious practices. Id. To prevail in this suit, the County must", "paragraph_id": "para_376" }, { "text": "show that accommodating Mason’s request would have been", "paragraph_id": "para_377" }, { "text": "an “undue hardship”—meaning an “excessive” or “unjustifi-", "paragraph_id": "para_378" }, { "text": "able” burden that “would result in substantial increased costs", "paragraph_id": "para_379" }, { "text": "in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” 42 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_380" }, { "text": "§ 2000e(j); Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447, 469–70 (2023) (citation", "paragraph_id": "para_381" }, { "text": "omitted). And to prevail at summary judgment, the County", "paragraph_id": "para_382" }, { "text": "had to make that showing so definitively that no reasonable", "paragraph_id": "para_383" }, { "text": "jury could conclude otherwise.", "paragraph_id": "para_384" }, { "text": "The County has not made that showing. Indeed, it hasn’t", "paragraph_id": "para_385" }, { "text": "really even tried. Instead, the County has explained the rea-", "paragraph_id": "para_386" }, { "text": "son why CCH adopted a broad vaccination policy: that public", "paragraph_id": "para_387" }, { "text": "health officials recommended it as the best means of limiting", "paragraph_id": "para_388" }, { "text": "COVID-19 transmission. That’s a start. But when it comes to", "paragraph_id": "para_389" }, { "text": "14 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_390" }, { "text": "religious practices, Title VII requires employers to make ex-", "paragraph_id": "para_391" }, { "text": "ceptions to their generally applicable policies—even to poli-", "paragraph_id": "para_392" }, { "text": "cies supported by public health guidance—unless doing so", "paragraph_id": "para_393" }, { "text": "would be an undue hardship. The record contains no evi-", "paragraph_id": "para_394" }, { "text": "dence that CCH seriously considered doing so in Mason’s", "paragraph_id": "para_395" }, { "text": "case. Although alternatives to vaccination (like masking, test-", "paragraph_id": "para_396" }, { "text": "ing, socially distancing, and partial remote work) were avail-", "paragraph_id": "para_397" }, { "text": "able, the County has not shown that permitting those alterna-", "paragraph_id": "para_398" }, { "text": "tives for Mason would have been an unjustifiable burden.", "paragraph_id": "para_399" }, { "text": "And it is the County, not Mason, that bears the burden of", "paragraph_id": "para_400" }, { "text": "proof on the undue-hardship question. Summary judgment", "paragraph_id": "para_401" }, { "text": "in the County’s favor is therefore unwarranted.", "paragraph_id": "para_402" }, { "text": "The federal courts have been flooded with Title VII claims", "paragraph_id": "para_403" }, { "text": "related to COVID-19 vaccine policies. This is our first time", "paragraph_id": "para_404" }, { "text": "considering when summary judgment is appropriate on the", "paragraph_id": "para_405" }, { "text": "question of undue hardship in such a case. The issue will", "paragraph_id": "para_406" }, { "text": "come up again, many times over. Title VII and binding Su-", "paragraph_id": "para_407" }, { "text": "preme Court precedent require that we treat undue hardship", "paragraph_id": "para_408" }, { "text": "as a defense to be proven, not an excuse to be presumed, even", "paragraph_id": "para_409" }, { "text": "in a pandemic. In my opinion, the majority does not hold", "paragraph_id": "para_410" }, { "text": "Cook County to that standard, and so I respectfully dissent.", "paragraph_id": "para_411" }, { "text": "I. Background", "paragraph_id": "para_412" }, { "text": "A.", "paragraph_id": "para_413" }, { "text": "Beginning in 2010, Mason worked as a pharmacist at John", "paragraph_id": "para_414" }, { "text": "H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, which is part of CCH. She was respon-", "paragraph_id": "para_415" }, { "text": "sible for checking prescriptions, verifying the drugs given to", "paragraph_id": "para_416" }, { "text": "patients, and calling doctors if there were problems with the", "paragraph_id": "para_417" }, { "text": "prescriptions. Mason worked in a room with approximately", "paragraph_id": "para_418" }, { "text": "twenty other pharmacists and forty pharmacy technicians.", "paragraph_id": "para_419" }, { "text": "Once a month, she was assigned to counsel patients at the", "paragraph_id": "para_420" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 15", "paragraph_id": "para_421" }, { "text": "pharmacy window, where she would see approximately eight", "paragraph_id": "para_422" }, { "text": "patients per shift.", "paragraph_id": "para_423" }, { "text": "In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared", "paragraph_id": "para_424" }, { "text": "COVID-19 a pandemic. The pandemic put a strain on CCH,", "paragraph_id": "para_425" }, { "text": "which was already dealing with staffing shortages. In re-", "paragraph_id": "para_426" }, { "text": "sponse, CCH made personal protective equipment available", "paragraph_id": "para_427" }, { "text": "to all staff, provided masks to anyone who entered its medical", "paragraph_id": "para_428" }, { "text": "facilities, and required staff to wear N95 masks when they", "paragraph_id": "para_429" }, { "text": "were providing some forms of direct patient care. CCH also", "paragraph_id": "para_430" }, { "text": "required Mason and her coworkers to clean their work-", "paragraph_id": "para_431" }, { "text": "stations and practice social distancing. Mason complied with", "paragraph_id": "para_432" }, { "text": "these requirements. She also volunteered to occasionally de-", "paragraph_id": "para_433" }, { "text": "liver medications to a separate floor of the hospital where pa-", "paragraph_id": "para_434" }, { "text": "tients with COVID-19 were treated.", "paragraph_id": "para_435" }, { "text": "During the summer of 2021—about a year and a half into", "paragraph_id": "para_436" }, { "text": "the pandemic—the FDA fully approved certain COVID-19", "paragraph_id": "para_437" }, { "text": "vaccines. In August, CCH implemented a vaccination policy", "paragraph_id": "para_438" }, { "text": "requiring all staff to either receive the COVID-19 vaccine, or", "paragraph_id": "para_439" }, { "text": "seek an exemption based on a medical need or a sincerely held", "paragraph_id": "para_440" }, { "text": "religious belief, by October 1, 2021. CCH explained that its", "paragraph_id": "para_441" }, { "text": "policy was “based on public health guidance,” citing “the", "paragraph_id": "para_442" }, { "text": "CDC’s recommendation that vaccination was the best way to", "paragraph_id": "para_443" }, { "text": "protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death, and", "paragraph_id": "para_444" }, { "text": "reduce transmission of COVID-19.” By mid-September, CCH", "paragraph_id": "para_445" }, { "text": "also began weekly COVID-19 testing for employees who had", "paragraph_id": "para_446" }, { "text": "not yet been vaccinated, including Mason.", "paragraph_id": "para_447" }, { "text": "Shortly after CCH announced its policy, Mason submitted", "paragraph_id": "para_448" }, { "text": "a request for a religious exemption. She explained that getting", "paragraph_id": "para_449" }, { "text": "the vaccine would run “counter to [her] Christian beliefs,”", "paragraph_id": "para_450" }, { "text": "which included “the requirement to keep [her] body and soul", "paragraph_id": "para_451" }, { "text": "pure.” She cited 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Or do you not know that", "paragraph_id": "para_452" }, { "text": "16 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_453" }, { "text": "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom", "paragraph_id": "para_454" }, { "text": "you have from God? You are not your own for you were", "paragraph_id": "para_455" }, { "text": "bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”", "paragraph_id": "para_456" }, { "text": "CCH’s original policy stated that exemption requests like", "paragraph_id": "para_457" }, { "text": "Mason’s would be “considered individually,” evaluating fac-", "paragraph_id": "para_458" }, { "text": "tors like the employee’s “work environment, available venti-", "paragraph_id": "para_459" }, { "text": "lation, frequency[] and duration of direct contact with em-", "paragraph_id": "para_460" }, { "text": "ployees and patients, the number of fully vaccinated Person-", "paragraph_id": "para_461" }, { "text": "nel in the work location, potential alternative shift/work as-", "paragraph_id": "para_462" }, { "text": "signments, and the availability of social distancing.” In Sep-", "paragraph_id": "para_463" }, { "text": "tember of 2021, however, the leadership team at CCH decided", "paragraph_id": "para_464" }, { "text": "that religious exemptions “could only be granted to employ-", "paragraph_id": "para_465" }, { "text": "ees whose duties could be performed on a fully remote basis.”", "paragraph_id": "para_466" }, { "text": "CCH based that determination on the same CDC guidance", "paragraph_id": "para_467" }, { "text": "that informed its decision to require vaccines generally: that", "paragraph_id": "para_468" }, { "text": "vaccination offered the best protection against the virus.", "paragraph_id": "para_469" }, { "text": "While some of Mason’s duties could be performed", "paragraph_id": "para_470" }, { "text": "remotely—such as pre-verification of prescriptions and data", "paragraph_id": "para_471" }, { "text": "entry—CCH concluded that her essential job functions could", "paragraph_id": "para_472" }, { "text": "not be done remotely. It accordingly denied her exemption", "paragraph_id": "para_473" }, { "text": "request. Other employees had the same experience, although", "paragraph_id": "para_474" }, { "text": "the total number of religious exemption requests was rela-", "paragraph_id": "para_475" }, { "text": "tively modest: Approximately 102 of CCH’s nearly 6,000 em-", "paragraph_id": "para_476" }, { "text": "ployees submitted such requests, and CCH granted only nine", "paragraph_id": "para_477" }, { "text": "of them (to fully remote employees).", "paragraph_id": "para_478" }, { "text": "CCH gave Mason 90 days of unpaid leave to search for an-", "paragraph_id": "para_479" }, { "text": "other CCH job compatible with full-time remote work. The", "paragraph_id": "para_480" }, { "text": "record is scant on whether CCH helped with that process; Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_481" }, { "text": "son recalls being told that finding a remote position was an", "paragraph_id": "para_482" }, { "text": "“unrealistic prospect.” That prediction turned out to be accu-", "paragraph_id": "para_483" }, { "text": "rate, and Mason never found a remote job at CCH. In May of", "paragraph_id": "para_484" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 17", "paragraph_id": "para_485" }, { "text": "2022, CCH fired Mason for “[g]ross [i]nsubordination” given", "paragraph_id": "para_486" }, { "text": "her failure to comply with the vaccination policy.", "paragraph_id": "para_487" }, { "text": "Meanwhile, another unvaccinated CCH employee—", "paragraph_id": "para_488" }, { "text": "whom the parties refer to as “Sanitarian I”—was having a", "paragraph_id": "para_489" }, { "text": "very different experience.1 In October of 2021, Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_490" }, { "text": "emailed several CCH officials informing them that she had", "paragraph_id": "para_491" }, { "text": "not complied with the vaccination policy because she was", "paragraph_id": "para_492" }, { "text": "part of a double-blind study on the efficacy of a new COVID-", "paragraph_id": "para_493" }, { "text": "19 vaccine. The next day, a CCH senior public health official", "paragraph_id": "para_494" }, { "text": "suggested that Sanitarian I “pass on this information to em-", "paragraph_id": "para_495" }, { "text": "ployee health and ask for an exemption.” That official also", "paragraph_id": "para_496" }, { "text": "said she thought that Sanitarian I “need[ed] to take a weekly", "paragraph_id": "para_497" }, { "text": "COVID test” as it was unclear whether she had received the", "paragraph_id": "para_498" }, { "text": "trial vaccine or a placebo, and the trial vaccine had not yet", "paragraph_id": "para_499" }, { "text": "been approved by the FDA.", "paragraph_id": "para_500" }, { "text": "More than nine months later, in July of 2022, CCH official", "paragraph_id": "para_501" }, { "text": "Anitha Nimmagadda followed up with Sanitarian I. Nim-", "paragraph_id": "para_502" }, { "text": "magadda was the Medical Director of Employee Health Ser-", "paragraph_id": "para_503" }, { "text": "vices at CCH and was listed as a “Policy Lead” for its vaccina-", "paragraph_id": "para_504" }, { "text": "tion policy. In an email, Nimmagadda reminded Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_505" }, { "text": "that she still had not complied with CCH’s policy because she", "paragraph_id": "para_506" }, { "text": "had never provided proof of vaccination. Sanitarian I re-", "paragraph_id": "para_507" }, { "text": "sponded a few weeks later that she had asked for the study to", "paragraph_id": "para_508" }, { "text": "be unblinded and would receive those results in August. Nim-", "paragraph_id": "para_509" }, { "text": "magadda reached out again on September 27, requesting once", "paragraph_id": "para_510" }, { "text": "more a copy of Sanitarian I’s unblinded study results. On", "paragraph_id": "para_511" }, { "text": "1 A sanitarian primarily “conduct[s] health and sanitation inspec-", "paragraph_id": "para_512" }, { "text": "tions” of businesses to ensure compliance with public health regulations.", "paragraph_id": "para_513" }, { "text": "McDonald v. Vill. of Palatine, Ill., 524 F. App’x 286, 288 (7th Cir. 2013); see", "paragraph_id": "para_514" }, { "text": "also 225 ILL. COMP. STAT. 37/21 (discussing sanitarian licensing require-", "paragraph_id": "para_515" }, { "text": "ments).", "paragraph_id": "para_516" }, { "text": "18 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_517" }, { "text": "October 12, Sanitarian I finally informed Nimmagadda that", "paragraph_id": "para_518" }, { "text": "the study had been unblinded, that she had been part of the", "paragraph_id": "para_519" }, { "text": "placebo group, and that she had received her first dose of the", "paragraph_id": "para_520" }, { "text": "vaccine the previous day. Although she did not comply with", "paragraph_id": "para_521" }, { "text": "CCH’s vaccination policy for more than a year, nothing in the", "paragraph_id": "para_522" }, { "text": "record suggests that Sanitarian I was ever disciplined.", "paragraph_id": "para_523" }, { "text": "B.", "paragraph_id": "para_524" }, { "text": "After her termination, Mason sued Cook County under Ti-", "paragraph_id": "para_525" }, { "text": "tle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She alleged that CCH", "paragraph_id": "para_526" }, { "text": "had failed to accommodate her religious practices and dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_527" }, { "text": "criminated against her based on her religion. See 42 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_528" }, { "text": "§ 2000e-2(a). The parties engaged in discovery, during which", "paragraph_id": "para_529" }, { "text": "Mason was deposed and answered interrogatories. She also", "paragraph_id": "para_530" }, { "text": "obtained CCH email correspondence about Sanitarian I. The", "paragraph_id": "para_531" }, { "text": "County, for its part, produced sworn affidavits from CCH of-", "paragraph_id": "para_532" }, { "text": "ficials.", "paragraph_id": "para_533" }, { "text": "The County’s affidavits are particularly relevant here.", "paragraph_id": "para_534" }, { "text": "They came from three CCH officials: (1) the Associate Chief", "paragraph_id": "para_535" }, { "text": "Human Resources Officer, (2) the Department Chair of Infec-", "paragraph_id": "para_536" }, { "text": "tion Control and Epidemiology, and (3) the former Equal Em-", "paragraph_id": "para_537" }, { "text": "ployment Opportunity Director. The affidavits are brief, total-", "paragraph_id": "para_538" }, { "text": "ing fifteen pages all together, and at times repetitive; several", "paragraph_id": "para_539" }, { "text": "paragraphs are copied and pasted almost verbatim into more", "paragraph_id": "para_540" }, { "text": "than one affidavit. They describe basic facts about CCH, its", "paragraph_id": "para_541" }, { "text": "response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its vaccination pol-", "paragraph_id": "para_542" }, { "text": "icy. They also describe CCH’s decision to deny all religious", "paragraph_id": "para_543" }, { "text": "exemption requests for in-person employees and to grant", "paragraph_id": "para_544" }, { "text": "those employees 90 days of unpaid leave to find a remote po-", "paragraph_id": "para_545" }, { "text": "sition.", "paragraph_id": "para_546" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 19", "paragraph_id": "para_547" }, { "text": "Like the policy itself, the affidavits recite public health", "paragraph_id": "para_548" }, { "text": "guidance that vaccination afforded the best protection against", "paragraph_id": "para_549" }, { "text": "COVID-19. Beyond that, the explanation for why alternatives", "paragraph_id": "para_550" }, { "text": "to vaccination were unacceptable for Mason consists entirely", "paragraph_id": "para_551" }, { "text": "of the following statements:", "paragraph_id": "para_552" }, { "text": "• “CCH determined that other mitigation methods, such", "paragraph_id": "para_553" }, { "text": "as masking, social distancing, and regular COVID-19", "paragraph_id": "para_554" }, { "text": "testing did not sufficiently address the patient and em-", "paragraph_id": "para_555" }, { "text": "ployee safety risk across its facilities.” R.58-12, ¶ 25", "paragraph_id": "para_556" }, { "text": "(Pramuk-Volk Affidavit);", "paragraph_id": "para_557" }, { "text": "• “While mitigations such as masking and testing are im-", "paragraph_id": "para_558" }, { "text": "portant tools to prevent the spread of the SARS-Co-V 2", "paragraph_id": "para_559" }, { "text": "virus, vaccination afforded employees additional pro-", "paragraph_id": "para_560" }, { "text": "tection from severe illness and death due to COVID-19.", "paragraph_id": "para_561" }, { "text": "In 2021, unvaccinated persons were found to be more", "paragraph_id": "para_562" }, { "text": "likely than a fully vaccinated person[] to experience se-", "paragraph_id": "para_563" }, { "text": "rious illness or death from COVID-19.” R.58-13, ¶ 17", "paragraph_id": "para_564" }, { "text": "(Welbel Affidavit);", "paragraph_id": "para_565" }, { "text": "• “Brooke Mason’s position as a Pharmacist at Stroger", "paragraph_id": "para_566" }, { "text": "Hospital required her to work at the hospital, in per-", "paragraph_id": "para_567" }, { "text": "son, be in regular contact with patients and coworkers,", "paragraph_id": "para_568" }, { "text": "and it was not always possible for her to socially dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_569" }, { "text": "tance.” R.58-14, ¶ 15 (Krasucki Affidavit); Pramuk-", "paragraph_id": "para_570" }, { "text": "Volk Affidavit, ¶ 29 (same with slight wording differ-", "paragraph_id": "para_571" }, { "text": "ences).", "paragraph_id": "para_572" }, { "text": "On that record, the County moved for summary judg-", "paragraph_id": "para_573" }, { "text": "ment. The district court granted the County’s motion. The dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_574" }, { "text": "trict judge found that the County had proven, as a matter of", "paragraph_id": "para_575" }, { "text": "law, that accommodating Mason would have been an undue", "paragraph_id": "para_576" }, { "text": "hardship. The judge also concluded that Mason’s disparate-", "paragraph_id": "para_577" }, { "text": "20 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_578" }, { "text": "treatment theory failed because she was not legitimately com-", "paragraph_id": "para_579" }, { "text": "parable to Sanitarian I and therefore had insufficient evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_580" }, { "text": "to prove that CCH had discriminated against her based on her", "paragraph_id": "para_581" }, { "text": "religion. Mason appealed.", "paragraph_id": "para_582" }, { "text": "II. Discussion", "paragraph_id": "para_583" }, { "text": "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it an “un-", "paragraph_id": "para_584" }, { "text": "lawful employment practice” for an employer “to fail or re-", "paragraph_id": "para_585" }, { "text": "fuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to", "paragraph_id": "para_586" }, { "text": "discriminate against any individual with respect to his com-", "paragraph_id": "para_587" }, { "text": "pensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, be-", "paragraph_id": "para_588" }, { "text": "cause of such individual’s … religion.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-", "paragraph_id": "para_589" }, { "text": "2(a)(1). The statute defines “religion” to “include[] all aspects", "paragraph_id": "para_590" }, { "text": "of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless", "paragraph_id": "para_591" }, { "text": "an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably ac-", "paragraph_id": "para_592" }, { "text": "commodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s reli-", "paragraph_id": "para_593" }, { "text": "gious observance or practice without undue hardship on the", "paragraph_id": "para_594" }, { "text": "conduct of the employer’s business.” Id. § 2000e(j).", "paragraph_id": "para_595" }, { "text": "Title VII thus “prohibits employers from discriminating", "paragraph_id": "para_596" }, { "text": "against employees and job applicants based on their religion,”", "paragraph_id": "para_597" }, { "text": "Adeyeye v. Heartland Sweeteners, LLC, 721 F.3d 444, 448 (7th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_598" }, { "text": "2013), just as it prohibits discrimination based on characteris-", "paragraph_id": "para_599" }, { "text": "tics like “race” and “sex,” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). And in its", "paragraph_id": "para_600" }, { "text": "definition of “religion,” Title VII imposes the additional re-", "paragraph_id": "para_601" }, { "text": "quirement that employers affirmatively “accommodate the", "paragraph_id": "para_602" }, { "text": "religious practice of their employees unless doing so would", "paragraph_id": "para_603" }, { "text": "impose an ‘undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s", "paragraph_id": "para_604" }, { "text": "business.’” Groff, 600 U.S. at 453–54 (citation omitted); see", "paragraph_id": "para_605" }, { "text": "Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U.S. 63, 74 (1977).", "paragraph_id": "para_606" }, { "text": "In this case, Mason alleges that CCH violated Title VII in", "paragraph_id": "para_607" }, { "text": "both ways: by failing to accommodate her religious practice,", "paragraph_id": "para_608" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 21", "paragraph_id": "para_609" }, { "text": "and by disparate treatment of religious employees. Like Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_610" }, { "text": "son and the majority, I focus on her failure-to-accommodate", "paragraph_id": "para_611" }, { "text": "theory, although her disparate-treatment theory requires a", "paragraph_id": "para_612" }, { "text": "brief discussion as well.", "paragraph_id": "para_613" }, { "text": "A. Failure to Accommodate", "paragraph_id": "para_614" }, { "text": "Religious accommodation cases follow a burden-shifting", "paragraph_id": "para_615" }, { "text": "framework. See Kluge v. Brownsburg Cmty. Sch. Corp., 150 F.4th", "paragraph_id": "para_616" }, { "text": "792, 802 (7th Cir. 2025). Mason must first establish a prima facie", "paragraph_id": "para_617" }, { "text": "case by showing that: (1) her beliefs are sincerely held, are re-", "paragraph_id": "para_618" }, { "text": "ligious in nature, and conflicted with CCH’s requirements; (2)", "paragraph_id": "para_619" }, { "text": "she notified CCH of her religious beliefs; and (3) the need for", "paragraph_id": "para_620" }, { "text": "a religious accommodation was a motivating factor for her", "paragraph_id": "para_621" }, { "text": "termination. See id. If Mason makes out a prima facie case, the", "paragraph_id": "para_622" }, { "text": "burden shifts to the County “to show that any reasonable ac-", "paragraph_id": "para_623" }, { "text": "commodation would result in undue hardship.” Id. at 802–03.", "paragraph_id": "para_624" }, { "text": "The majority, like the district court, assumes that Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_625" }, { "text": "has made out a prima facie case. See Maj. Op. at 5. That assump-", "paragraph_id": "para_626" }, { "text": "tion is correct. Indeed, the parties dispute only whether Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_627" }, { "text": "son’s request was based on a sincerely held religious belief.", "paragraph_id": "para_628" }, { "text": "On this point, Mason carries a “low burden,” requiring her to", "paragraph_id": "para_629" }, { "text": "show only that “(1) ‘the belief for which protection is sought", "paragraph_id": "para_630" }, { "text": "[is] religious in [the] person’s own scheme of things’ and (2)", "paragraph_id": "para_631" }, { "text": "that it is ‘sincerely held.’” Kluge, 150 F.4th at 811 (alterations", "paragraph_id": "para_632" }, { "text": "in original) (citation omitted). We have previously concluded", "paragraph_id": "para_633" }, { "text": "that an exemption request nearly identical to Mason’s met", "paragraph_id": "para_634" }, { "text": "that standard on its face. See Passarella v. Aspirus, Inc., 108 F.4th", "paragraph_id": "para_635" }, { "text": "1005, 1009–10 (7th Cir. 2024). Here, nothing in the record re-", "paragraph_id": "para_636" }, { "text": "buts that conclusion as a matter of law, so Mason has made", "paragraph_id": "para_637" }, { "text": "out a prima facie case that survives summary judgment. See", "paragraph_id": "para_638" }, { "text": "Bube v. Aspirus Hosp., Inc., 108 F.4th 1017, 1020 (7th Cir. 2024)", "paragraph_id": "para_639" }, { "text": "22 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_640" }, { "text": "(“courts should avoid putting themselves in the impossible", "paragraph_id": "para_641" }, { "text": "position of trying to define religious legitimacy”).", "paragraph_id": "para_642" }, { "text": "The real dispute in this case concerns undue hardship, an", "paragraph_id": "para_643" }, { "text": "issue on which the County bears the burden of proof. An “un-", "paragraph_id": "para_644" }, { "text": "due hardship” is a “burden” that “rise[s] to an ‘excessive’ or", "paragraph_id": "para_645" }, { "text": "‘unjustifiable’ level.” Groff, 600 U.S. at 469 (citation omitted).", "paragraph_id": "para_646" }, { "text": "To prevail on this point, the County must prove that accom-", "paragraph_id": "para_647" }, { "text": "modating Mason through precautions other than vaccination", "paragraph_id": "para_648" }, { "text": "“would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the", "paragraph_id": "para_649" }, { "text": "conduct of its particular business.” Id. at 470. And at the sum-", "paragraph_id": "para_650" }, { "text": "mary judgment stage, the County had to “demonstrate why", "paragraph_id": "para_651" }, { "text": "the record is so one-sided as to rule out the prospect of a find-", "paragraph_id": "para_652" }, { "text": "ing in favor of” Mason on this question. Hotel 71 Mezz Lender", "paragraph_id": "para_653" }, { "text": "LLC v. Nat’l Ret. Fund, 778 F.3d 593, 601 (7th Cir. 2015) (ex-", "paragraph_id": "para_654" }, { "text": "plaining standard “[w]here, as here, the movant is seeking", "paragraph_id": "para_655" }, { "text": "summary judgment on a claim as to which it bears the burden", "paragraph_id": "para_656" }, { "text": "of proof”). In my view, the County has not made that show-", "paragraph_id": "para_657" }, { "text": "ing.", "paragraph_id": "para_658" }, { "text": "As the majority recounts, the County’s undue-hardship", "paragraph_id": "para_659" }, { "text": "evidence focused on the legitimate difficulties of running a", "paragraph_id": "para_660" }, { "text": "health-care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health-", "paragraph_id": "para_661" }, { "text": "care workers were at greater risk than the general public of", "paragraph_id": "para_662" }, { "text": "contracting COVID-19, and CCH was dealing with staffing", "paragraph_id": "para_663" }, { "text": "shortages. Once vaccines became available, CCH followed", "paragraph_id": "para_664" }, { "text": "public health guidance indicating that vaccination was the", "paragraph_id": "para_665" }, { "text": "best way to control the virus. While CCH had already estab-", "paragraph_id": "para_666" }, { "text": "lished other mitigation strategies (like masking, social dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_667" }, { "text": "tancing, and testing), it resolved to adopt the most effective", "paragraph_id": "para_668" }, { "text": "measure available.", "paragraph_id": "para_669" }, { "text": "With that evidence, the County is off to a good start in ex-", "paragraph_id": "para_670" }, { "text": "plaining why CCH adopted a vaccination mandate in the first", "paragraph_id": "para_671" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 23", "paragraph_id": "para_672" }, { "text": "place. Indeed, Mason does not dispute many of these points—", "paragraph_id": "para_673" }, { "text": "including that CCH reasonably understood the vaccine to", "paragraph_id": "para_674" }, { "text": "provide the best protection against COVID-19. But in a reli-", "paragraph_id": "para_675" }, { "text": "gious accommodation case, Title VII requires more than a sen-", "paragraph_id": "para_676" }, { "text": "sible explanation for the employer’s policy. It also requires the", "paragraph_id": "para_677" }, { "text": "employer to grant exceptions to that policy for specific employ-", "paragraph_id": "para_678" }, { "text": "ees’ religious practices, even if those exceptions are burden-", "paragraph_id": "para_679" }, { "text": "some, as long as the burden does not “rise to an ‘excessive’ or", "paragraph_id": "para_680" }, { "text": "‘unjustifiable’ level.” Groff, 600 U.S. at 469 (citation omitted);", "paragraph_id": "para_681" }, { "text": "see also Kluge, 150 F.4th at 807.", "paragraph_id": "para_682" }, { "text": "In Groff v. DeJoy, for example, the Postal Service reasona-", "paragraph_id": "para_683" }, { "text": "bly determined that requiring all its drivers to deliver pack-", "paragraph_id": "para_684" }, { "text": "ages on Sundays was optimal, given its contractual obligation", "paragraph_id": "para_685" }, { "text": "to Amazon to make Sunday deliveries. 600 U.S. at 454. When", "paragraph_id": "para_686" }, { "text": "faced with an employee whose religion precluded working on", "paragraph_id": "para_687" }, { "text": "Sundays, however, the Postal Service had to do much more", "paragraph_id": "para_688" }, { "text": "than justify its policy as the best one for its business. It had to", "paragraph_id": "para_689" }, { "text": "“reasonably accommodate [its] employee’s practice of reli-", "paragraph_id": "para_690" }, { "text": "gion” by granting an exception to its optimal policy, or other-", "paragraph_id": "para_691" }, { "text": "wise demonstrate that any such accommodation would be an", "paragraph_id": "para_692" }, { "text": "undue hardship. Id. at 473. It “would not be enough,” for ex-", "paragraph_id": "para_693" }, { "text": "ample, for the Postal Service to simply “conclude that forcing", "paragraph_id": "para_694" }, { "text": "other employees to work overtime would constitute an undue", "paragraph_id": "para_695" }, { "text": "hardship”; instead, serious “[c]onsideration of other options,", "paragraph_id": "para_696" }, { "text": "such as voluntary shift swapping, would also be necessary.”", "paragraph_id": "para_697" }, { "text": "Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_698" }, { "text": "Similarly, in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., Aber-", "paragraph_id": "para_699" }, { "text": "crombie & Fitch’s no-headwear policy for its retail employees", "paragraph_id": "para_700" }, { "text": "may well have been an important means of preserving the", "paragraph_id": "para_701" }, { "text": "store’s aesthetic and promoting clothing sales—its core busi-", "paragraph_id": "para_702" }, { "text": "ness mission. See 575 U.S. at 770. But when faced with a", "paragraph_id": "para_703" }, { "text": "24 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_704" }, { "text": "potential employee whose religion required a headscarf, Title", "paragraph_id": "para_705" }, { "text": "VII required more than “mere neutrality” from Abercrombie", "paragraph_id": "para_706" }, { "text": "in following that policy. Id. at 775. The law instead required", "paragraph_id": "para_707" }, { "text": "“favored treatment,” such that Abercrombie’s optimal policy", "paragraph_id": "para_708" }, { "text": "might need “to give way to the need for an accommodation.”", "paragraph_id": "para_709" }, { "text": "Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_710" }, { "text": "When it comes to religious accommodations, then, an em-", "paragraph_id": "para_711" }, { "text": "ployer cannot defeat a Title VII suit with a good explanation", "paragraph_id": "para_712" }, { "text": "of its chosen policy. The employer must also prove that grant-", "paragraph_id": "para_713" }, { "text": "ing an exception to that policy for an employee’s religious", "paragraph_id": "para_714" }, { "text": "practice would have been unduly burdensome. And on this", "paragraph_id": "para_715" }, { "text": "critical point, the record here is very thin. While CCH’s origi-", "paragraph_id": "para_716" }, { "text": "nal policy contemplated more robust consideration of indi-", "paragraph_id": "para_717" }, { "text": "vidual exemptions, CCH ultimately “determined” that it", "paragraph_id": "para_718" }, { "text": "would simply deny all religious exemption requests for in-", "paragraph_id": "para_719" }, { "text": "person employees. CCH then applied that rule to Mason. As", "paragraph_id": "para_720" }, { "text": "a result, there is no evidence that CCH meaningfully consid-", "paragraph_id": "para_721" }, { "text": "ered any accommodations for Mason other than fully remote", "paragraph_id": "para_722" }, { "text": "work. See Groff, 600 U.S. at 473 (explaining that Title VII is not", "paragraph_id": "para_723" }, { "text": "satisfied if employer “merely … assess[es] the reasonableness", "paragraph_id": "para_724" }, { "text": "of a particular possible accommodation” without “[c]onsider-", "paragraph_id": "para_725" }, { "text": "ation of other options”). Nor, it seems, did CCH make any ef-", "paragraph_id": "para_726" }, { "text": "forts to help Mason find a remote position other than giving", "paragraph_id": "para_727" }, { "text": "her 90 days of unpaid leave. See e.g., Cherry v. Wash. State Dep’t", "paragraph_id": "para_728" }, { "text": "of Fish & Wildlife, __F.4th__, No. 25-4763, 2026 WL 2451427, at", "paragraph_id": "para_729" }, { "text": "*6 (9th Cir. Aug. 21, 2026) (Title VII not satisfied where em-", "paragraph_id": "para_730" }, { "text": "ployer offered “nothing more than an opportunity for reas-", "paragraph_id": "para_731" }, { "text": "signment, couched in language that made success appear un-", "paragraph_id": "para_732" }, { "text": "likely”). When Mason found that no fully remote jobs were", "paragraph_id": "para_733" }, { "text": "available, CCH fired her.", "paragraph_id": "para_734" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 25", "paragraph_id": "para_735" }, { "text": "The thin record here is particularly glaring given that Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_736" }, { "text": "son was already masking, testing, and socially distancing at", "paragraph_id": "para_737" }, { "text": "work, which are precisely the types of accommodations that", "paragraph_id": "para_738" }, { "text": "she sought going forward. Despite having a test run of these", "paragraph_id": "para_739" }, { "text": "protocols, the County did not attempt—either contemporane-", "paragraph_id": "para_740" }, { "text": "ously or in this litigation—to quantify the burden it would", "paragraph_id": "para_741" }, { "text": "have faced had Mason continued these precautions in lieu of", "paragraph_id": "para_742" }, { "text": "vaccinating. Where an employer has already accommodated", "paragraph_id": "para_743" }, { "text": "the employee, its failure to demonstrate any specific hardship", "paragraph_id": "para_744" }, { "text": "arising from those accommodations undermines the em-", "paragraph_id": "para_745" }, { "text": "ployer’s argument that those measures would cause undue", "paragraph_id": "para_746" }, { "text": "hardship in the future. See Kluge, 150 F.4th at 806 (explaining", "paragraph_id": "para_747" }, { "text": "that, in these circumstances, the employer must “prove both", "paragraph_id": "para_748" }, { "text": "that there was a hardship, and that the accommodation", "paragraph_id": "para_749" }, { "text": "caused that hardship”).", "paragraph_id": "para_750" }, { "text": "To be sure, the County’s affidavits do state that CCH “de-", "paragraph_id": "para_751" }, { "text": "termined that other mitigation methods, such as masking, so-", "paragraph_id": "para_752" }, { "text": "cial distancing and regular COVID-19 testing did not suffi-", "paragraph_id": "para_753" }, { "text": "ciently address the patient and employee safety risk across its", "paragraph_id": "para_754" }, { "text": "facilities.” But that “determination” is nothing more than a", "paragraph_id": "para_755" }, { "text": "conclusion, akin to the County arguing that any accommoda-", "paragraph_id": "para_756" }, { "text": "tions would impose an undue hardship because it “deter-", "paragraph_id": "para_757" }, { "text": "mined” as much. Mere “[a]ssertions of undue hardship are", "paragraph_id": "para_758" }, { "text": "not enough”; there must instead “be a showing—with facts", "paragraph_id": "para_759" }, { "text": "and evidence—of what the costs on the employer are.” Cherry,", "paragraph_id": "para_760" }, { "text": "2026 WL 2451427, at *9. The record is devoid of such facts and", "paragraph_id": "para_761" }, { "text": "evidence here. For example, the County offers no evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_762" }, { "text": "measuring the “safety risk” that a masked, tested, socially dis-", "paragraph_id": "para_763" }, { "text": "tanced, and/or partially remote Mason would have caused.", "paragraph_id": "para_764" }, { "text": "Nor does the County offer evidence that CCH was overrun", "paragraph_id": "para_765" }, { "text": "with similar exemption requests. Instead, the County says", "paragraph_id": "para_766" }, { "text": "that only 102 out of nearly 6,000 employees—less than 2%—", "paragraph_id": "para_767" }, { "text": "26 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_768" }, { "text": "submitted religious exemption requests, nine of whom", "paragraph_id": "para_769" }, { "text": "worked fully remotely. The County makes no effort to quan-", "paragraph_id": "para_770" }, { "text": "tify the burden of accommodating the remaining 93 religious", "paragraph_id": "para_771" }, { "text": "employees. “Conclusory evidence offered without a factual", "paragraph_id": "para_772" }, { "text": "foundation is insufficient” on summary judgment, Osborn v.", "paragraph_id": "para_773" }, { "text": "JAB Mgmt. Servs., Inc., 126 F.4th 1250, 1258 (7th Cir. 2025)—", "paragraph_id": "para_774" }, { "text": "even in the aftermath of a pandemic.", "paragraph_id": "para_775" }, { "text": "CCH’s blanket “determination” that nothing other than", "paragraph_id": "para_776" }, { "text": "vaccination would suffice is also seriously undermined by the", "paragraph_id": "para_777" }, { "text": "evidence about Sanitarian I. For a year, CCH knew that Sani-", "paragraph_id": "para_778" }, { "text": "tarian I had violated its vaccination policy by failing to pro-", "paragraph_id": "para_779" }, { "text": "vide proof of an approved vaccine. While Mason promptly", "paragraph_id": "para_780" }, { "text": "sought an exemption for religious reasons, Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_781" }, { "text": "dragged her feet in responding to CCH’s inquiries about vac-", "paragraph_id": "para_782" }, { "text": "cination. CCH fired Mason in May of 2022—at which point,", "paragraph_id": "para_783" }, { "text": "CCH had yet to even follow up with Sanitarian I about her", "paragraph_id": "para_784" }, { "text": "vaccination status, despite learning seven months earlier that", "paragraph_id": "para_785" }, { "text": "she was participating in a double-blind study.2 Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_786" }, { "text": "remained employed and unvaccinated for five more months", "paragraph_id": "para_787" }, { "text": "after Mason’s termination, and the record contains no indica-", "paragraph_id": "para_788" }, { "text": "tion that she faced adverse employment consequences. Given", "paragraph_id": "para_789" }, { "text": "2 The County argues there is no evidence that CCH was informed of", "paragraph_id": "para_790" }, { "text": "Sanitarian I’s vaccination status because Sanitarian I never formally sub-", "paragraph_id": "para_791" }, { "text": "mitted an exemption request. But the record includes an email dated Oc-", "paragraph_id": "para_792" }, { "text": "tober 2, 2021, from Sanitarian I to “covid19vaccine@cookcountyhhs.org,”", "paragraph_id": "para_793" }, { "text": "with five CCH employees CC’d, informing them of her participation in", "paragraph_id": "para_794" }, { "text": "the vaccine trial study. One of those employees, a Senior Public Health", "paragraph_id": "para_795" }, { "text": "Medical Officer at CCH’s Department of Public Health, responded to San-", "paragraph_id": "para_796" }, { "text": "itarian I the following day. Construing all reasonable inferences in Ma-", "paragraph_id": "para_797" }, { "text": "son’s favor, she has at least established a genuine issue of material fact as", "paragraph_id": "para_798" }, { "text": "to whether that email put relevant CCH officials on notice of Sanitarian I’s", "paragraph_id": "para_799" }, { "text": "vaccination status.", "paragraph_id": "para_800" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 27", "paragraph_id": "para_801" }, { "text": "these facts, the County’s insistence that any unvaccinated em-", "paragraph_id": "para_802" }, { "text": "ployee posed an unacceptable “safety risk” is the subject of", "paragraph_id": "para_803" }, { "text": "real dispute. A jury, not a judge, should evaluate that claim.", "paragraph_id": "para_804" }, { "text": "In concluding otherwise, the majority emphasizes the", "paragraph_id": "para_805" }, { "text": "“particularized challenges COVID-19 presented in [] hospital", "paragraph_id": "para_806" }, { "text": "setting[s]” like the one where Mason worked. Maj. Op. at 9.", "paragraph_id": "para_807" }, { "text": "Those challenges were real and they are certainly relevant", "paragraph_id": "para_808" }, { "text": "here. But on the record before us, they do not justify CCH’s", "paragraph_id": "para_809" }, { "text": "blanket policy of denying religious vaccine exemptions to", "paragraph_id": "para_810" }, { "text": "every single in-person employee. Mason, for example, was", "paragraph_id": "para_811" }, { "text": "not a pulmonologist on the front lines of treating COVID-19", "paragraph_id": "para_812" }, { "text": "patients; she was a pharmacist who usually saw customers at", "paragraph_id": "para_813" }, { "text": "a consultation window one day per month and who could do", "paragraph_id": "para_814" }, { "text": "part of her job from home. Yet CCH gave no serious thought", "paragraph_id": "para_815" }, { "text": "to accommodating her—and that lack of consideration is re-", "paragraph_id": "para_816" }, { "text": "flected in the pitiful record it offered to prove undue hard-", "paragraph_id": "para_817" }, { "text": "ship. At the same time, CCH’s treatment of Sanitarian I un-", "paragraph_id": "para_818" }, { "text": "dermines the County’s claim that even a single unvaccinated", "paragraph_id": "para_819" }, { "text": "employee was intolerable in its strained health-care system.", "paragraph_id": "para_820" }, { "text": "Title VII has no exceptions for hospitals or pandemics, and the", "paragraph_id": "para_821" }, { "text": "County’s hand-waving about COVID-19’s challenges cannot", "paragraph_id": "para_822" }, { "text": "substitute for actual evidence that accommodating Mason", "paragraph_id": "para_823" }, { "text": "would have been an undue hardship.", "paragraph_id": "para_824" }, { "text": "The majority also cites decisions from our sister circuits", "paragraph_id": "para_825" }, { "text": "that “have upheld findings of undue hardship regarding reli-", "paragraph_id": "para_826" }, { "text": "gious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine policies.” Maj. Op. at", "paragraph_id": "para_827" }, { "text": "6. And to be fair, I am aware of no circuit decision going the", "paragraph_id": "para_828" }, { "text": "other way. Whether those decisions are all correct is a ques-", "paragraph_id": "para_829" }, { "text": "tion for the Supreme Court. Even if some of them are, the rec-", "paragraph_id": "para_830" }, { "text": "ords in those cases tend to highlight the deficiencies in the", "paragraph_id": "para_831" }, { "text": "County’s evidence here. In Petersen v. Snohomish Regional Fire", "paragraph_id": "para_832" }, { "text": "28 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_833" }, { "text": "and Rescue, for example, the employer’s evidence of undue", "paragraph_id": "para_834" }, { "text": "hardship included an expert’s “extensive declaration” de-", "paragraph_id": "para_835" }, { "text": "scribing how the employee-firefighters had to enter private", "paragraph_id": "para_836" }, { "text": "residences, transport patients in vehicles, and eat and sleep in", "paragraph_id": "para_837" }, { "text": "a communal setting at the firehouse. 150 F.4th 1211, 1218–19", "paragraph_id": "para_838" }, { "text": "(9th Cir. 2025). In addition, the employer established that al-", "paragraph_id": "para_839" }, { "text": "most one quarter of its entire force had requested vaccine ac-", "paragraph_id": "para_840" }, { "text": "commodations, that one of its substantial contracts required", "paragraph_id": "para_841" }, { "text": "proof of employee vaccination, and that its insurer would", "paragraph_id": "para_842" }, { "text": "deny coverage for any suit involving COVID-19 transmission", "paragraph_id": "para_843" }, { "text": "by an unvaccinated employee. Id. at 1220–22; see also Hall v.", "paragraph_id": "para_844" }, { "text": "Sheppard Pratt Health Sys., Inc., 155 F.4th 747, 750, 753–54 (4th", "paragraph_id": "para_845" }, { "text": "Cir. 2025) (affirming summary judgment for hospital where", "paragraph_id": "para_846" }, { "text": "evidence established heightened COVID risk in eating disor-", "paragraph_id": "para_847" }, { "text": "der treatment center populated with medically vulnerable pa-", "paragraph_id": "para_848" }, { "text": "tients who were regularly in close contact with employee-", "paragraph_id": "para_849" }, { "text": "plaintiff); Kizer v. St. Jude Children’s Rsch. Hosp., No. 24-5207,", "paragraph_id": "para_850" }, { "text": "2024 WL 4816856, at *6 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2024) (affirming", "paragraph_id": "para_851" }, { "text": "summary judgment for hospital where evidence established", "paragraph_id": "para_852" }, { "text": "that continued “extensive testing and contract-tracing proto-", "paragraph_id": "para_853" }, { "text": "cols[] would be costly in both time and money”). If cases like", "paragraph_id": "para_854" }, { "text": "Petersen set the bar for an undue-hardship showing, then the", "paragraph_id": "para_855" }, { "text": "County has fallen far short here.", "paragraph_id": "para_856" }, { "text": "In sum, the County failed to substantiate its claim that ac-", "paragraph_id": "para_857" }, { "text": "commodating Mason would have been an undue hardship. At", "paragraph_id": "para_858" }, { "text": "every stage, this case has been litigated as though Mason bore", "paragraph_id": "para_859" }, { "text": "the burden of proof on that question. But the law imposes that", "paragraph_id": "para_860" }, { "text": "burden on the County, and the County has not carried it—", "paragraph_id": "para_861" }, { "text": "certainly not enough to win summary judgment.", "paragraph_id": "para_862" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 29", "paragraph_id": "para_863" }, { "text": "B. Disparate Treatment", "paragraph_id": "para_864" }, { "text": "As the majority implies, Mason gave her disparate-", "paragraph_id": "para_865" }, { "text": "treatment theory of liability short shrift both in the district", "paragraph_id": "para_866" }, { "text": "court and before us. See Maj. Op. at 11–12. I am not inclined", "paragraph_id": "para_867" }, { "text": "to belabor an argument that Mason herself barely made. But", "paragraph_id": "para_868" }, { "text": "ultimately, the same evidence that supports Mason’s failure-", "paragraph_id": "para_869" }, { "text": "to-accommodate theory also indicates that a jury should hear", "paragraph_id": "para_870" }, { "text": "about her alleged disparate treatment, and so I address it", "paragraph_id": "para_871" }, { "text": "briefly here.", "paragraph_id": "para_872" }, { "text": "The “singular question” at the heart of Mason’s disparate-", "paragraph_id": "para_873" }, { "text": "treatment claim is whether her religion was a motivating fac-", "paragraph_id": "para_874" }, { "text": "tor in her termination. Purtue v. Wis. Dep’t of Corr., 963 F.3d", "paragraph_id": "para_875" }, { "text": "598, 602 (7th Cir. 2020); see also Abercrombie, 575 U.S. at 773", "paragraph_id": "para_876" }, { "text": "(“Title VII … prohibit[s] even making a protected characteris-", "paragraph_id": "para_877" }, { "text": "tic a ‘motivating factor’ in an employment decision.”) (citing", "paragraph_id": "para_878" }, { "text": "42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)). To show that it was, Mason can point", "paragraph_id": "para_879" }, { "text": "to “better treatment of people similarly situated but for” their", "paragraph_id": "para_880" }, { "text": "religious faith. Joll v. Valparaiso Cmty. Schs., 953 F.3d 923, 929", "paragraph_id": "para_881" }, { "text": "(7th Cir. 2020).", "paragraph_id": "para_882" }, { "text": "In my view, the evidence about Sanitarian I could support", "paragraph_id": "para_883" }, { "text": "a reasonable jury’s conclusion that Mason was terminated, at", "paragraph_id": "para_884" }, { "text": "least in part, because of her religion. The County’s asserted", "paragraph_id": "para_885" }, { "text": "“legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for firing Mason was", "paragraph_id": "para_886" }, { "text": "her refusal to comply with the vaccination policy. Mitchell v.", "paragraph_id": "para_887" }, { "text": "Exxon Mobil Corp., 143 F.4th 800, 809 (7th Cir. 2025) (citation", "paragraph_id": "para_888" }, { "text": "omitted). But Sanitarian I was subject to the same vaccination", "paragraph_id": "para_889" }, { "text": "policy, and she was not terminated (nor even placed on un-", "paragraph_id": "para_890" }, { "text": "paid leave) despite also failing to comply. Mason did not com-", "paragraph_id": "para_891" }, { "text": "ply for religious reasons, while Sanitarian I did not comply", "paragraph_id": "para_892" }, { "text": "for secular reasons. Although not a smoking gun, this evi-", "paragraph_id": "para_893" }, { "text": "dence suffices for Mason to survive summary judgment. See,", "paragraph_id": "para_894" }, { "text": "30 No. 25-2743", "paragraph_id": "para_895" }, { "text": "e.g., Filar v. Bd. of Educ. of Chi., 526 F.3d 1054, 1061 (7th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_896" }, { "text": "2008) (“All things being equal, if an employer takes an action", "paragraph_id": "para_897" }, { "text": "against one employee in a protected class but not another out-", "paragraph_id": "para_898" }, { "text": "side that class, one can infer discrimination.”); Dunlevy v.", "paragraph_id": "para_899" }, { "text": "Langfelder, 52 F.4th 349, 354 (7th Cir. 2022) (“If a comparator", "paragraph_id": "para_900" }, { "text": "engaged in equivalent or more egregious conduct than the", "paragraph_id": "para_901" }, { "text": "plaintiff but received a lighter punishment, or none at all, that", "paragraph_id": "para_902" }, { "text": "satisfies the inquiry.”).", "paragraph_id": "para_903" }, { "text": "The majority disagrees, finding that Sanitarian I was not", "paragraph_id": "para_904" }, { "text": "“similarly situated” to Mason for purposes of this claim. Maj.", "paragraph_id": "para_905" }, { "text": "Op. at 12. But we have “warned against using a mechanical", "paragraph_id": "para_906" }, { "text": "‘magic formula’ for the similarly-situated inquiry.” Johnson v.", "paragraph_id": "para_907" }, { "text": "Advoc. Health and Hosps. Corp., 892 F.3d 887, 895 (7th Cir. 2018)", "paragraph_id": "para_908" }, { "text": "(citation omitted). Rather, “[s]imilarly situated means ‘di-", "paragraph_id": "para_909" }, { "text": "rectly comparable’ in all material respects,” which demands a", "paragraph_id": "para_910" }, { "text": "“flexible, common-sense, and factual” inquiry. Id. (emphasis", "paragraph_id": "para_911" }, { "text": "added) (citations omitted); see also Mitchell, 143 F.4th at 810", "paragraph_id": "para_912" }, { "text": "(explaining that the purpose of the “similarly situated inquiry", "paragraph_id": "para_913" }, { "text": "is to eliminate other possible explanatory variables, … [to] iso-", "paragraph_id": "para_914" }, { "text": "late the critical independent variable—discriminatory ani-", "paragraph_id": "para_915" }, { "text": "mus”) (alterations in original) (citation omitted).", "paragraph_id": "para_916" }, { "text": "Here, that inquiry suggests that Mason and Sanitarian I", "paragraph_id": "para_917" }, { "text": "were similarly situated in the ways that matter, at least on the", "paragraph_id": "para_918" }, { "text": "record before us. The same CCH policy applied to both, and", "paragraph_id": "para_919" }, { "text": "neither complied. Mason was promptly placed on unpaid", "paragraph_id": "para_920" }, { "text": "leave and terminated for gross insubordination. Sanitarian I,", "paragraph_id": "para_921" }, { "text": "by contrast, was gently nudged to comply until she ultimately", "paragraph_id": "para_922" }, { "text": "received the vaccine a year later. Without more context to dif-", "paragraph_id": "para_923" }, { "text": "ferentiate the two, that difference in treatment is enough to", "paragraph_id": "para_924" }, { "text": "“support an inference of intentional discrimination.” Joll, 953", "paragraph_id": "para_925" }, { "text": "F.3d at 929.", "paragraph_id": "para_926" }, { "text": "No. 25-2743 31", "paragraph_id": "para_927" }, { "text": "The majority’s emphasis on other distinctions between", "paragraph_id": "para_928" }, { "text": "Mason and Sanitarian I misses the mark. That Mason and San-", "paragraph_id": "para_929" }, { "text": "itarian I had “different jobs, in different locations, with differ-", "paragraph_id": "para_930" }, { "text": "ent supervisors,” Maj. Op. at 12, is immaterial here, because", "paragraph_id": "para_931" }, { "text": "they were both subject to the same CCH-wide policy and the", "paragraph_id": "para_932" }, { "text": "relevant decisions were made by CCH public health officials,", "paragraph_id": "para_933" }, { "text": "not individual supervisors. Nor does it matter that Mason for-", "paragraph_id": "para_934" }, { "text": "mally sought an exemption while Sanitarian I did not, given", "paragraph_id": "para_935" }, { "text": "that CCH was aware of Sanitarian I’s non-compliance and the", "paragraph_id": "para_936" }, { "text": "reasons for it even without a formal exemption request. In-", "paragraph_id": "para_937" }, { "text": "deed, the fact that Sanitarian I never bothered to seek a formal", "paragraph_id": "para_938" }, { "text": "exemption—despite being asked to do so—only exacerbates", "paragraph_id": "para_939" }, { "text": "her flouting of CCH’s policy.", "paragraph_id": "para_940" }, { "text": "In my opinion, then, a jury should get to hear Mason’s", "paragraph_id": "para_941" }, { "text": "disparate-treatment theory as well.", "paragraph_id": "para_942" }, { "text": "* * *", "paragraph_id": "para_943" }, { "text": "There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic was", "paragraph_id": "para_944" }, { "text": "devastating. It strained health-care providers nationwide, and", "paragraph_id": "para_945" }, { "text": "CCH was no exception. But “even in a pandemic,” the law", "paragraph_id": "para_946" }, { "text": "“cannot be put away and forgotten.” Roman Cath. Diocese of", "paragraph_id": "para_947" }, { "text": "Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. 14, 19 (2020). Under Title VII,", "paragraph_id": "para_948" }, { "text": "CCH’s blanket refusal to accommodate its in-person religious", "paragraph_id": "para_949" }, { "text": "employees cannot carry the day at summary judgment, and", "paragraph_id": "para_950" }, { "text": "this case should proceed to trial. 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