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Jacqueline Colson v. Hennepin County, Minnesota
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 25-1095 · judgment March 11, 2026
Before the decision, about 1.6× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, an Eighth Circuit decision below, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.
Question presented
An employer granted an employee an exemption from the COVID vaccine because of her sincerely held religious beliefs but denied the same employee an exemption from weekly testing based on the same expressed beliefs. Failure to comply with the employer’s testing mandate could result in discipline, including termination. The question presented is: Whether an employer's threat of discipline or termination for failing to do weekly testing for COVID, and forcing an employee to choose between following her religious beliefs or losing her job, is considered an adverse employment action sufficient to state a claim under Title VII’s failure to accommodate provisions.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Gregory Martin Erickson
Morhman, Kaardal & Erickson, P.A.
For respondent
Christiana M. Martenson
Hennepin County Attorney's Office
Case
Subject area
Civil Rights (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, October 5, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2026Petition DENIED.
- Jul 08 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
- Jun 18 2026Waiver of right of respondent Hennepin County to respond filed.
- Jun 09 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 13, 2026)