In his first week as head of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Scott Kupor issued new guidance to executive agency directors cracking down on religious discrimination in the federal workforce.
The memo, obtained by Fox News Digital, encourages the use of telework, flexible schedules and leave options to meet ‘reasonable’ religious needs while maintaining efficient agency operations.
The new guidance instructs the heads and acting heads of executive agencies and departments that they must make certain religious accommodations for workers, such as abstaining from work during specific times or participating in religious observances or practices.
Kupor cited Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 2022 Supreme Court decision Groff v. DeJoy, which he said clarified that employers are required to demonstrate substantial increased costs to deny a reasonable religious accommodation request.
He wrote that agencies are encouraged to ‘adopt a generous approach to approving religious accommodations, prioritizing employee needs while maintaining operational efficiency.’
‘Further, Federal agencies must adhere to the requirements of Title VII and the Groff clarification of the ‘undue hardship’ standard when addressing religious accommodation requests,’ Kupor wrote.
He said that religious accommodations could include telework, religious compensatory time off, flexible work schedules and various other forms of paid and unpaid time off.
Kupor cited an executive order signed by Trump in May that made it a top priority to ensure that all executive agencies ‘honor and enforce the Constitution’s guarantee of religious liberty’ and end ‘any form of religious discrimination by the Federal Government.’
Trump wrote in the executive order that ‘it shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law.’
Kupor said that in addition to the president’s guidance, ‘it is in the interest of the Federal government to recruit and retain highly-qualified employees of faith.’
‘Religious liberty is foundational,’ Kupor said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
‘No federal employee should be forced to choose between their faith and their federal service,’ he said. ‘This guidance ensures agencies meet their legal obligations and treat these requests with the seriousness they deserve.’
In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, OPM clarified that ‘even as agencies enforce in-person work requirements,’ this memo reaffirms that ‘reasonable religious accommodations are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and must be provided consistent with law.’
