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Can an employee’s climate convictions count as a religious belief their employer is bound to protect? During New York Climate Week, LRRP Director Liz Reiner Platt joins a panel hosted by ClientEarth to discuss a novel lawsuit now unfolding in federal court. In Hartley v. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dr. Andrew Hartley, a scientist and observant Methodist, argues that his faith calls him to care for creation and to avoid profiting from fossil fuels. When he asked his employer for a retirement plan option that excluded fossil-fuel investments and was refused, Hartley sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the federal law requiring employers to reasonably accommodate their workers’ sincere religious beliefs. ClientEarth, an environmental law organization, represents Hartley in this pathbreaking lawsuit. The panel will explore what the case means for religious accommodation in the workplace, for climate advocacy, and for the growing overlap between the two.
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