Also known as: unemployment benefit · unemployment insurance · UI benefits
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Compensation provided by state programs to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Eligibility requires that the separation from employment not result from misconduct or a voluntary quit without good cause. Denial of these benefits may raise constitutional questions when the worker's conduct stems from sincerely held religious beliefs.
Uri Underwood, a member of a Native American church, was fired after using peyote during a religious ceremony. State officials denied his claim for unemployment benefits under a neutral criminal prohibition on the drug. The denial stands because the law applies to all persons regardless of religious motivation.
Una Ueda, a Seventh-Day Adventist, quit her job after her employer required Saturday work that conflicted with her faith. The state denied unemployment benefits on the ground that she left without good cause. A court requires the state to grant benefits because the denial forces a choice between religious observance and economic survival.
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Ugo Ucelli resigned after his factory converted to producing military equipment that violated his religious convictions. The state denied unemployment benefits, treating the resignation as voluntary without good cause. A court holds that the benefits must be paid because the refusal was motivated by sincere religious belief.
Ulysses Ulrich was fired from a hospital after refusing an annual flu vaccine required by a neutral regulation that permitted only medical exemptions. The state denied unemployment benefits on misconduct grounds. The denial is upheld because the rule is neutral and generally applicable without targeting religion.
Ursula Upton was discharged from military service for wearing a yarmulke that violated a neutral dress code. She sought unemployment benefits after the separation. The denial is sustained because the uniform policy is neutral and generally applicable to all service members.
Uma Upadhyay, owner of a closely held corporation, objected on religious grounds to providing certain contraceptive coverage required by federal regulation. After the firm faced penalties, employees sought unemployment benefits following related job losses. The accommodation analysis turns on whether the mandate substantially burdens religious exercise under applicable statutes.
Denial violates the clause when a state withholds benefits because a worker refuses work that conflicts with sincere religious beliefs and the state lacks a compelling interest pursued by the least restrictive means. Neutral and generally applicable rules that only incidentally burden religion do not require exemptions.
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No. Courts accept the individual's sincere religious explanation even if other members of the same denomination would accept the work. Judicial inquiry focuses on sincerity rather than orthodoxy of the belief.
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The rule may lose its claim to general applicability. Selective accommodation of nonreligious reasons while denying comparable religious accommodations can trigger strict scrutiny and require an exemption for the religious claimant.
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…Appeals Comm’n of Florida , 480 U. S. 136 (1987), in which we held that a State could not condition the availability of unemployment insurance on an individual’s willingness to forgo conduct required by his religion. As we observed in Smith I , however, the conduct at issue in those cases was not prohibited by law. We held that…