EEOC Is Permanently Enjoined From Enforcing Portions of PWFA Final Regulations and EEOC’s Title VII Guidance On Harassment in the Workplace Against Catholic Employer Organization
On April 15, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota issued its decision granting partial summary judgment to the Catholic Benefits Association, on behalf of its members and the Bismarck Diocese (collectively the CBA). The court found that the portions of the PWFA Final Regulations that require employers to reasonably accommodate limitations arising out of infertility, abortions, and in vitro fertilization violate the CBA’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The court also found that the EEOC’s Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace violates the CBA’s rights under the RFRA to the extent the EEOC Guidance forces the CBA to “speak or communicate in favor of abortion, fertility treatments, or gender transition when such is contrary to the Catholic faith; refrain from speaking or communicating against the same when such is contrary to the Catholic faith, use pronouns inconsistent with a person’s biologi...