EEOC Sues Mayo Clinic for Religious Discrimination

MINNEAPOLIS — The Mayo Clinic, which operates hospitals in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida, violated federal law when it refused to grant a security guard’s request for a reasonable religious accommodation to its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, and instead threatened to fire the employee, effectively forcing him to receive the vaccine and violate his conscience and religious beliefs to save his job, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, the employee requested an accommodation to Mayo’s vaccination policy because he was opposed to getting the COVID-19 vaccine based on his religious beliefs. The employee, a security guard in a non-medical role, explained the basis of his religious beliefs, and offered that he would be willing to receive tests for COVID-19 and to wear a mask. However, the employer rejected his request for a religious accommodation because it did not believe the employee’s religious beliefs were sincere. Faced with termination, the employee submitted to the vaccination policy in order to avoid being fired, the EEOC said.

“Employees have a right to request reasonable religious accommodations without fear of punishment or termination, including for vaccination policies,” said EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas. “Effectively forcing employees to submit to vaccinations against sincerely held religious beliefs can violate federal civil rights laws. The EEOC will hold employers accountable for such violations of Title VII.”

The clinic’s alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion, which includes failing to provide accommodations to an employee’s religious practice unless such an accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Mayo Clinic, Case 0:25-cv-03066 D. Minnesota) in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages, including compensatory and punitive damages, and seeks injunctive relief and policy changes designed to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination.

The EEOC’s Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.