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Article

13 Apr 2015

Author:
Dwayne Antonio Robinson, Inside Counsel (USA)

USA: Future litigation likely to require courts to reconcile companies' free speech rights & employees’ religious beliefs, says lawyer

“Abercrombie and the question of commercial speech rights of employers,” 7 Apr 2015

…[In] EEOCv. Abercrombie…Court watchers are primarily focused on who…had the principal duty to raise a possible conflict between an employer’s practices and the religious beliefs of a prospective employee. But a more fundamental question underlying this case has gone unnoticed…Abercrombie…has explicitly argued elsewhere…that when the free speech rights of employers and the religious rights of employees clash, the employers’ rights prevail. And while the Supreme Court will not decide that issue now, the question will undoubtedly arise again and likely in the context of corporate speech in favor of…LGBT…rights…Many…corporations have recently taken pro-LGBT positions…But it is…possible that companies’ pro-LGBT public speech could conflict with the religious beliefs of…employees…[A]t the point where employees must shed their religious beliefs or adopt contrary religious teachings as the price for employment, employers run the risk of violating Title VII…[T]ime will tell how the Court will reconcile the two when they inevitably collide.