From Accommodation to Retaliation: Mitigating Title VII Risks in DEI Training Pushback

When an employee refuses to participate in mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training, what should an employer ask before deciding how to respond? In Today’s General Counsel, Woods Rogers Labor & Employment Principals Anne Bibeau and Leah Stiegler discuss why the answer depends on what the training covers, how it is delivered, and what prompted the objection.

Drawing on a Seventh Circuit case involving an employee who declined unconscious-bias training without reviewing it, Anne and Leah explain how the facts behind an objection can determine whether Title VII protects the employee from retaliation. They also address religious accommodation requests, including when an alternative training could address an employee’s concern while preserving the employer’s expectations for respectful workplace conduct.

Read the full article in Today’s General Counsel.