Religious and Belief Accommodations Policy Policy and Procedures

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  1. Purpose
    1. Davis Technical College (“College”) is committed to providing an academic and work environment that honors each employee’s and student’s religious belief and conscience. This policy establishes requirements to ensure the protection of employees’ and students’ sincerely held religious or conscience beliefs and provides minimum requirements for the College’s processing of religious accommodation requests.
  2. References
    1. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended
    2. Utah Code § 63G-33-201, Exercise of Religion
    3. Utah Code § 67-27-106, Reasonable Accommodations for Government Employees
    4. Utah Code § 34A-5-112, Religious Liberty Protections
    5. Utah Code § 34A-5-106, Utah Antidiscrimination Act as amended
    6. Utah Code § 53H-1-102, Utah System of Higher Education
    7. Utah Code § 53H-7-903, Student Religious and Conscience Accommodations
    8. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
    9. Utah Administrative Code, R765-264, Student Belief Accommodations
    10. Davis Technical College Employee Grievance Policy and Procedures
  3. Scope
    1. This policy applies to students in attendance at the College and employees of the College.
  4. Definitions
    1. “College” means Davis Technical College.
    2. “Conscience” means a sincerely held belief as to the rightness or wrongness of an action or inaction, defined in Utah Code Ann. § 67-27-106.
    3. “Fundamental alteration” means a change so significant in an examination or assignment that the change:
      1. alters the essential nature, objectives, or standards of a class, program, or degree; and
      2. negatively impacts the student’s ability to:
        1. master essential learning outcomes of the course, program, or degree; or
        2. acquire the knowledge, skills, or competencies necessary to pass the course, program, or degree.
    4. “Neutral Arbiter” for students, means Associate Vice President of Student Success, for employees means the cognizant Vice President.
    5. “Point of Contact” means the College Ombuds.
    6. “Reasonably accommodate” means taking reasonable steps to modify requirements, expectations, schedules, assignments, duties, or participation requirements in a manner that effectively addresses an employee's or student's sincerely held religious or conscience belief while avoiding undue hardship or, when applicable, a fundamental alteration.
    7. “Religious Belief” means a theistic or non-theistic system of moral, ethical, or philosophical beliefs, practices, or teachings – including traditionally recognized religions – that addresses fundamental questions of meaning, purpose, or moral obligation, and that functions for an individual or community in a manner comparable to other recognized religions, regardless of whether its beliefs are uniformly accepted or practiced by all adherents.
    8. “Sincerely Held Belief” means a religious, non-religious, theistic, or non-theistic moral, ethical, or philosophical conviction that is religious in nature, genuinely and consistently held, and that informs the individual’s sense of moral obligation, purpose, or conduct, regardless of whether the conviction is required or uniformly accepted within any religious tradition.
    9. “Undue Hardship” for employee accommodations, means a substantial burden, privation, or adversity on a governmental entity that would result from granting an employee's request to be relieved from performing a certain task when considering all relevant factors, including:
      1. the practical impact on the College in light of the nature, size, and operating cost of the College;
      2. the disruption of the College’s operations;
      3. the nature of the employee’s duties;
      4. the number of employees the College will be required to grant a request to if the College grants the employee’s request;
      5. the type of workplace; and/or
      6. the number of requests by the employee in the preceding 12 months from the day on which the employee submitted the request.
    10. “Retaliation” means for students, any action or threat designed to dissuade a reasonable person from asserting their rights under this policy, or to inflict retribution for assertion of rights under this policy. For employees, retaliation is an adverse employment action taken against an employee as a result of the employee filing a request for accommodation of religious belief or conscience.
  5. Employee Accommodations
    1. The College grants employees their reasonable requests to be relieved from performing certain tasks, expressions, actions, or inactions if (1) performing the task conflicts with, burdens, or offends the employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs or conscience; (2) the employee follows the procedures for requesting an accommodation outlined in section 8; and (3) none of the exceptions listed in section 5.2 apply.
    2. Exceptions- The College will not grant an employee’s request if exempting the employee from the task, expression, action, or inaction would impose an undue hardship on the College, including when
      1. the request is to be relieved from performing a task that is part of training or safety instructions directly related to the employee’s job;
      2. granting the request would create an unavoidable conflict with an existing legal obligation; and/or
      3. the employee’s asserted beliefs or conscience are being asserted for improper purpose, such as for a reason other than religious belief or conscience, or to receive pay for work not performed.
    3. Any absence from work granted as a religious accommodation shall be unpaid unless the employee elects to use accrued paid leave in accordance with College leave policies.
  6. Student Accommodations
    1. In accordance with Section 53H-7-903 and this policy, the College shall:
      1. For any course, reasonably accommodate a student’s absence, or offer an alternative deadline or
        schedule, from an examination or other academic requirements for reasons of the student’s religious or conscience belief or the student’s religious tradition or religious organization;
      2. For a course that the College mandates for graduation or for an academic program, reasonably accommodate a student’s objection to a required examination or assignment by offering an alternative examination or assignment for reasons of the student’s sincerely held religious or conscience belief if the requested accommodation does not create a fundamental alteration.
  7. Retalliation
    1. No College employee or student may retaliate against a student or employee for requesting accommodation for religious belief or conscience.
  8. Making a Request
    1. In addition to all requirements in Section 53H-7-903, the College shall comply with the following minimum requirements to provide parameters for a requested accommodation and guidance for protecting an employee’s or student’s sincerely held religious or conscience beliefs:
      1. Employee Request
        1. An employee shall provide written notice to their supervisor identifying the sincerely held religious or conscience belief for which the accommodation is requested, along with the specific accommodation being sought.
        2. An employee requesting a sincerely held religious or conscience belief accommodation must notify the employee’s supervisor in advance. Requests should be made as early as possible and no later than two days after the task was assigned. The request must provide the employee’s supervisor with a written explanation as to why the task would conflict with the employee's sincerely held religious beliefs or conscience. If the conflicting task was received within two days after the day on which the employee received the assignment, an employee seeking accommodation shall orally or in writing immediately request to be relieved from performing the task.
        3. The supervisor and employee shall engage in an interactive process to assess whether the requested accommodation is a reasonable accommodation and can be provided and/or whether the accommodation would create an undue hardship. The supervisor shall consult with the Human Resources department during the interactive process. The supervisor may explore other possible reasonable accommodations to address the employee’s religious or conscience belief. When more than one accommodation is feasible, the supervisor may select any of the feasible accommodations, provided the accommodation will effectively eliminate the conflict with the employee’s sincerely held religious or conscience belief.
        4. The employee’s supervisor shall respond to the request as soon as practicable but at least five days before the day on which the task is required to be performed where applicable, unless the College and employee agree in writing to waive or extend the time limit.
        5. If a request is denied the College shall include in the denial (i) an explanation of the College’s decision and why:
          1. granting the request would impose an undue hardship on the college; or
          2. the College is not required to grant the employee's request for a reason described in Section 67-27-106(2)(b); and
          3. that the employee may seek redress in a court if the employee has exhausted the internal process.
      2. Student Request
        1. A student shall provide written notice to the instructor of the course for which the student is seeking an accommodation that identifies the religious or conscience belief and the requested accommodation based on the student’s sincerely held religious or conscience belief.
        2. To ensure proper record keeping, the College may require students to complete a religious belief accommodation form provided by the College.
        3. To help facilitate the accommodation process, instructors are encouraged to include detailed information about course deadlines and requirements in their syllabus.
        4. A student requesting a religious or conscience belief accommodation must notify the instructor in advance. Requests should be made as early as possible, and generally, absent good cause, no later than 30 days before the accommodation is needed. The instructor may deny a student’s accommodation request if sufficient notice is not provided and no good cause exists.
        5. The instructor shall acknowledge and respond to the request within five business days and continue the interactive process as necessary. Upon receiving the accommodation request the instructor shall notify their assigned Academic Advisor of the request as soon as reasonably practicable.
        6. After the instructor receives a religious accommodation request from the student, the instructor shall initiate contact with the student to collaboratively create a reasonable accommodation as soon as practicable. Instructors shall coordinate with their assigned Academic Advisor regarding the accommodation request.
        7. The instructor will determine whether they can implement the requested accommodation without creating a fundamental alteration of the course. The instructor may explore other possible reasonable accommodations to address the student’s religious or conscience belief. When more than one accommodation is feasible, the instructor may select any of the feasible accommodations, provided the accommodation will effectively eliminate the conflict with the student’s sincerely held religious or conscience belief.
        8. The student and instructor shall engage in an interactive process to assess whether a requested accommodation is a reasonable accommodation and can be provided and/or whether the accommodation creates a fundamental alteration to the course. The instructor and student are expected to participate in the interactive process.
        9. If an instructor denies the student’s request for an accommodation, the instructor shall inform the student in writing, including the reason for the denial, as soon as practicable and include a reference to the College’s Religious Accommodation Policy, and the contact information for the Point of Contact and Neutral Arbiter.
        10. An instructor who denies a student’s accommodation shall notify the Point of Contact at the College about the denial within a reasonable time but no longer than five business days after the denial and provide a written explanation of why the instructor denied the request.
        11. A reasonable accommodation allowing a student to be absent from an exam or other academic requirement in order to accommodate the student’s sincerely held religious or conscience belief shall not adversely impact the student’s academic opportunities.
      3. The College’s employees engaging in the interactive process will be offered training annually on legal and policy requirements for this process.
      4. Accommodations are not retroactive.
      5. All employee requests for accommodation, and any records created in processing those requests, are classified as private in accordance with the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code Title 63G, Chapter 2, Section 302(1)(gg) and Utah Code Ann. § 67-27-106(7).
      6. Accommodation requests will be treated as confidential and shared only with individuals who have a legitimate business, educational, legal, or operational need to know.
      7. The College prohibits retaliation against an employee or student for requesting accommodation based on religious or conscience belief.
      8. The College shall address any failure to comply with Section 53H-7-903 and this policy.
  9. Appeals and Complaints
    1. Employees – Employees who wish to appeal their supervisor’s accommodation decision should follow the Employee Grievance policy and may also contact the Point of Contact who serves as a neutral resource for navigating concerns and conflicts.
    2. Students - Students may appeal/grieve an accommodation request denial to the designated Neutral Arbiter.
    3. The College’s Neutral Arbiter shall have the academic and subject matter expertise to review a denial of accommodation and determine whether the requested accommodation constitutes a fundamental alteration.
    4. A person may file an appeal with the Neutral Arbiter within five days of receiving:
      1. A denial of accommodations; or
      2. Insufficient accommodations.
    5. The Neutral Arbiter must not discuss the denial or appeal process with other parties, unless the Neutral Arbiter requires more information from either party.
    6. If the Neutral Arbiter discusses the matter with either party, the Neutral Arbiter must document the transaction.
    7. The Neutral Arbiter must make a finding within five days of the receipt of the complaint and their decision and reasonings. The findings will be issued to the student and instructor, as applicable.
    8. The Neutral Arbiter must show the process taken in rendering the decision by:
      1. Documenting the reasoning for the Neutral Arbiter’s findings.
      2. Showing the information in the record that led to that reasoning.
    9. The Neutral Arbiter’s decision is final.
  10. Reporting
    1. The College shall submit an annual report to the Board no later than December 1 of each year that details, for the previous academic year, any decisions by the Neutral Arbiter.
  11. Religious Holidays
    1. The College may grant a religious accommodation for a holiday that is not on the list provided by the Utah Commissioner of Higher Education if a student seeks an accommodation for such holiday.
  12. College Website
    1. The College will publish on its website this policy, the contact information of all persons involved with the accommodation process, and a list of major religious holidays.

Effective Date: 24 September 2026

  • Approvals and Notes
  • President’s Council Approval: 21 September 2026