The Federal Reserve Bank of New York mostly failed in its bid to nix a lawsuit by two employees who say they were illegally denied religious exemptions to its Covid-19 vaccination requirement.
Lori Gardner-Alfred’s and Jeanette Diaz’s claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion clause aren’t preempted by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said Wednesday in a novel ruling.
The Second Circuit has never addressed the issue, but the 1976 US Supreme Court case that other circuit and …