Decades of the "de minimus" Standard Empowered Employers to Deny Lord's Day Requests

This literature review analyzes the evolving legal standards for religious accommodation under Title VII, focusing on the shift from the long-standing "de minimis" undue hardship test established in Hardison (1977) to the more stringent standard clarified in Groff v. DeJoy (2023). While Groff raised the bar for rejecting accommodations, it left unresolved deeper challenges—particularly how courts evaluate whether a belief is genuinely religious and sincerely held. The article argues that these unresolved issues are becoming increasingly contentious, especially in cases like COVID-19 litigation, and proposes new frameworks for better addressing religiosity and sincerity in employment law. This source is classified as "Context" because it does not provide data on the impact of the de minimus standard. Therefore, it neither supports nor casts doubt on this topic's central claim.