Federal contractors and reasonable accommodations for vaccine mandates

President Joe Biden's Executive Order (EO) 14042 requires federal contractor employees working on or in connection with a covered federal contract to be fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021. According to EO 14042 and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force Guidance, employees who otherwise would be required to be vaccinated may request an exemption either for medical or religious reasons. The task force guidance provides:

A covered contractor may be required to provide an accommodation to covered contractor employees who communicate to the covered contractor that they are not vaccinated against COVID-19 because of a disability (which would include medical conditions) or because of a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance. A covered contractor should review and consider what, if any, accommodation it must offer. Requests for "medical accommodation" or "medical exceptions" should be treated as requests for a disability accommodation.

However, the task force guidance so far has left to contractors the determination of whether an employee is exempt and what if any accommodation can be provided. It is important for contractors to remember that while a determination of whether an employee with a disability is entitled to a reasonable accommodation must be evaluated under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standard, employers are not required to provide a religious accommodation that is an undue hardship. For religious accommodations, an undue hardship is defined as having more than a minimal cost or burden on the employer.