{"id":1714,"date":"2023-08-01T15:32:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T19:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T07:48:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:48:28","slug":"client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/","title":{"rendered":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On July 20, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed an employee\u2019s Title VII lawsuit, by which she challenged her employer\u2019s denial of her request for religious exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The case, <em>Griffin v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue<\/em>, was initiated by a former tax auditor who worked for the MA Department of Revenue (MDOR) and was terminated after she refused to get vaccinated. The plaintiff alleged that her employer\u2019s conduct amounted to unlawful religious discrimination because she had a sincerely held religious belief against receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The MDOR moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The court granted the MDOR\u2019s motion, noting, \u201cwhile plaintiff is entitled to practice her own individualized form of faith, she is not entitled to a virtually automatic exception from the\u00a0vaccination\u00a0requirement, based solely on her own representation that it violates her religious principles\u00a0on an\u00a0ad hoc\u00a0basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the employee\u2019s refusal to adhere to her employer\u2019s vaccine policy was based merely on her contention that she \u201cclosely contemplated with God\u201d and was \u201cshown that [she] should not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.\u201d Thus, the Court held that \u201c[t]he central question is whether a simple allegation that plaintiff prayed to God and was \u2018shown\u2019 that she should not receive the vaccine\u2014without more\u2014is sufficient to support a claim of religious discrimination.\u201d Indeed, the Court found that it was not.<\/p>\n<p>As a reminder, to establish a\u00a0<em>prima facie<\/em>\u00a0case of religious discrimination, a plaintiff must show \u201cthat a\u00a0bona fide\u00a0religious practice conflicts with an employment requirement and was the reason for the adverse employment action.\u201d\u00a0To meet that standard, the plaintiff must show \u201cboth that the belief or practice is religious and that it is sincerely held.\u201d In this case, the MDOR argued that the employee\u2019s complaint failed to allege sufficiently that her belief against the vaccine derived from a religion.<\/p>\n<p>In assessing the employee\u2019s complaint, the Court noted that \u201c[t]here are a multitude of difficulties in assessing whether a particular belief arises from a religion, as opposed to a set of moral, ethical, political, medical, or personal values\u2026 Nonetheless, the requirement of a bona fide religious belief must have some meaning.\u201d Elaborating on this point, the Court stated that the complaint \u201cmust allege some plausible set of facts from which it may be reasonably inferred both that she believes in or practices a particular form of religion and that her religion has a specific tenet or principle that does not permit her to be vaccinated.\u201d Moreover, it deemed the employee\u2019s unadorned declaration that God had \u201cshown\u201d her that she should not receive the vaccine, without more, was insufficient to establish a plausible basis from which to infer that the beliefs or practices of her religion prevent her from being vaccinated against COVID-19. Accordingly, the Court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim of religious discrimination under Title VII.<\/p>\n<h2>Employer Takeaway<\/h2>\n<p>This case presented a simple set of facts (with an employee who was representing herself) so it is likely the Court came to its decision with some ease. Still, it remains a notable holding in the early development of the body of case law that surely will come out of the pandemic era. Many employers with vaccine mandates rejected vaccine exemption requests for religious reasons when they were not well-founded. The <em>Griffin <\/em>decision gives employers some insight into what the courts in Massachusetts will be focused on when they rule on claims of this nature.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On July 20, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed an employee&rsquo;s Title VII lawsuit, by which she challenged her employer&rsquo;s denial of her request for religious exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The case, Griffin v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue, was initiated by&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[195,162],"tags":[393,394,282],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19-resources","category-discrimination","tag-covid-19-vaccine-policy","tag-religious-discrimination","tag-vaccine-requirement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On July 20, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed an employee&rsquo;s Title VII lawsuit, by which she challenged her employer&rsquo;s denial of her request for religious exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The case, Griffin v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue, was initiated by&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Bar With Bowditch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bowditch &amp; Dewey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bowditch &amp; Dewey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bowditch &amp; Dewey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96\"},\"headline\":\"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":626,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19 vaccine policy\",\"religious discrimination\",\"vaccine requirement\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COVID-19 Resources\",\"Discrimination\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/\",\"name\":\"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Individual receiving a vaccine\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/01\\\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"At the Bar With Bowditch\",\"description\":\"A Legal Blog for the Craft Brewing Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/craftbrewerylegalblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96\",\"name\":\"Bowditch &amp; Dewey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bowditch &amp; Dewey\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch","og_description":"On July 20, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed an employee&rsquo;s Title VII lawsuit, by which she challenged her employer&rsquo;s denial of her request for religious exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The case, Griffin v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue, was initiated by&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/","og_site_name":"At the Bar With Bowditch","article_published_time":"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bowditch &amp; Dewey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bowditch &amp; Dewey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/"},"author":{"name":"Bowditch &amp; Dewey","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/#\/schema\/person\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96"},"headline":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption","datePublished":"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/"},"wordCount":626,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","keywords":["COVID-19 vaccine policy","religious discrimination","vaccine requirement"],"articleSection":["COVID-19 Resources","Discrimination"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/","name":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption - At the Bar With Bowditch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-01T19:32:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-07T11:48:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/#\/schema\/person\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Individual receiving a vaccine"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2023\/08\/01\/client-alert-ma-federal-court-issues-favorable-ruling-for-employers-in-case-involving-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-and-request-for-religious-exemption\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MA Federal Court Issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Case Involving COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Request for Religious Exemption"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/","name":"At the Bar With Bowditch","description":"A Legal Blog for the Craft Brewing Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/#\/schema\/person\/459a6197018380b5885ba6e1cfc5ab96","name":"Bowditch &amp; Dewey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5483675550118a7631b7aa9aeaa31f65ebabe771a3571a05500ee629a94e240a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bowditch &amp; Dewey"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/PersonGettingShot_BW-scaled-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd7Mns-rE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}