How to Claim a Religious Exemption in Massachusetts

To claim a religious exemption in Massachusetts, you put your objection in writing and deliver it to the right decision-maker: for a child’s school immunizations, a signed statement to the school under Chapter 76, Section 15; for a workplace obligation, a request for reasonable accommodation to your employer under Chapter 151B. Both paths turn on the same question — whether the belief you’re asserting is genuinely religious and sincerely held — so how you word and support the request matters more than which form you use.¹²

Claiming a School Vaccination Exemption

The school route is deliberately simple. Chapter 76, Section 15 states that no child whose parent or guardian “states in writing that vaccination or immunization conflicts with his sincere religious beliefs shall be required to present said physician’s certificate in order to be admitted to school.”¹ You write the statement, submit it to the school, and your child is admitted without proof of immunization.

A few practical points about the statement itself:

It comes from the parent or guardian directly. The Department of Public Health confirms the exemption is a written statement from the parent or guardian.³
There is no state-mandated form. Write it in your own words.
You do not need a letter from a clergy member, and the school cannot require you to name your denomination or explain your doctrine.
Say plainly that vaccination conflicts with your sincere religious beliefs. Keep the language religious. Wording that reads as political, philosophical, or scientific skepticism weakens the claim.

Sign, date, and keep a copy. If the school later questions the exemption or the state posture changes, that copy is your record.

The Emergency and Epidemic Limit

The school exemption is not absolute, and this catches many parents off guard. Chapter 76, Section 15 grants it only “[i]n the absence of an emergency or epidemic of disease declared by the department of public health.”¹ If DPH declares an emergency or epidemic, the state can require vaccination regardless of your religious beliefs, and schools can exclude unvaccinated children until the declaration is lifted. A religious exemption on file will not carry you through that period.

Requesting a Workplace Accommodation

Employees use a different path. Chapter 151B, Section 4 makes it unlawful for an employer to impose conditions of employment that force you to violate your religious practices, and it requires employers to make “reasonable accommodation” to religious needs.²

To start the process, you simply put your employer on notice that you have a religious need conflicting with a work rule. Federal guidance is explicit: no written request is required, and no magic words are needed.⁴ Even so, put it in writing. A dated request describing your belief and the specific conflict — a vaccine mandate, a uniform rule, a scheduled shift — creates the record you’ll need if the request is denied or the job is later lost.

For sabbath or holy day observance, the statute is specific: your employer cannot require you to work during that time if you give at least ten days’ advance notice for each absence. The employer does not have to pay you for the time, and may ask you to make up the hours at a mutually convenient time.² The same accommodation duty covers dress and grooming standards, vaccine mandates, and similar rules.

Employers can deny an accommodation only by proving “undue hardship.” Under Chapter 151B, that means situations where your absence would compromise public health or safety, where you are indispensable and no similarly qualified coworker can cover, or where an emergency requires your presence. The employer carries the burden.²

Federal law layers on top. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to accommodate religious practices, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Groff v. DeJoy raised the federal standard: an employer must show that granting the accommodation would produce “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business,” not merely a minor inconvenience.⁵

What Your Employer Can Ask For

Employers who receive a religious accommodation request should ordinarily assume the belief is sincere. They can ask for supporting information only when they have an objective reason to doubt either the religious nature or the sincerity of the belief. Your own first-hand explanation may be enough. You do not need a letter from a religious leader, and employers who demand unnecessary or excessive proof risk liability for denying a reasonable accommodation.⁶

What Counts as a Sincere Religious Belief

Both paths hinge on this threshold. Massachusetts draws a firm line between religious beliefs and personal or philosophical objections. Preferences based on internet research, political views, or general distrust of medicine do not qualify. The belief must be rooted in religion, but it does not have to come from an organized church or established denomination. Under Chapter 151B, “creed or religion” includes any sincerely held religious beliefs “without regard to whether such beliefs are approved, espoused, prescribed or required by an established church or other religious institution.”² Federal guidance from the EEOC protects beliefs that concern “ultimate ideas about life, purpose, and death” while excluding social, political, or economic philosophies.⁷

Someone whose faith teaches that the body is sacred and must not receive certain medical interventions can claim an exemption. Someone who simply dislikes government mandates cannot. Reviewers look at whether the objection has a religious foundation, not just whether you feel strongly about it.

What Weakens a Sincerity Finding

Sincerity is subjective, but reviewers and courts look at a familiar set of indicators drawn from EEOC guidance:⁶

Inconsistent behavior. Claiming a religious objection to vaccines while having voluntarily received other vaccines invites skepticism.
Suspicious timing. A request that surfaces only after a mandate takes effect, particularly if you previously sought the same benefit for nonreligious reasons, raises questions.
A desirable secular benefit. When the accommodation delivers an attractive nonreligious perk, reviewers will scrutinize whether religion is the real motivation.

What Strengthens It

A clear, consistent personal narrative is the most useful evidence: when you adopted the belief, how it shapes daily life, and specifically why it conflicts with the obligation at issue. Testimony from family, friends, or coworkers who have observed your religious practice can help, though it is not required.⁶

Consistency in delivery matters too. In a Massachusetts Board of Review decision involving a healthcare worker fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine, the hearing officer credited the claimant’s testimony that her body belonged to God and could not be vaccinated, noting she “did not backtrack, or demonstrate doubt, confusion, hesitation” and finding her religious convictions rendered her “incapable of complying” with the employer’s policy. She was awarded unemployment benefits.⁸

If Your Exemption Is Denied

A denial is not the end of the process, and your next step depends on where the denial came from.

For a school vaccination exemption, the statute gives little procedural guidance on appeals. If a district refuses your written statement, escalate through the school administration first, and be prepared to seek judicial review if that fails. Massachusetts courts will scrutinize government decisions that burden sincere religious beliefs and require the state to justify the specific burden.

For a workplace denial, you can file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination under Chapter 151B, or with the EEOC under Title VII. If you were denied unemployment benefits after being fired for a religiously motivated refusal to comply with a workplace policy, you can appeal to the Board of Review, and from there to a Massachusetts District Court within thirty days of the Board’s decision.⁹

In every one of these forums, the strength of your case depends on what you put together at the beginning: the written statement, the description of the belief, any corroborating history. Treat the initial request as if it may become an exhibit later, because it often does.

Healthcare Workers and Conscience Protections

If you work in healthcare, a separate set of federal statutes may cover you independently of Chapter 151B. The Church Amendments prohibit discrimination against healthcare personnel who refuse to perform or assist with abortions, sterilizations, or certain biomedical research on religious or moral grounds. The Coats-Snowe Amendment prohibits government discrimination against entities that refuse to perform or train for abortions, and Section 1553 of the Affordable Care Act bars discrimination against providers who decline to participate in assisted suicide or euthanasia.¹⁰ These protections apply to any Massachusetts healthcare facility or professional receiving federal funding, and they operate on top of state law rather than instead of it.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 76 Section 15 – Vaccination and Immunization
2
Mass.gov. Mass. General Laws c.151B Section 4
3
Mass.gov. School Immunizations
4
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fact Sheet: Religious Accommodations in the Workplace
5
Supreme Court. Groff v. DeJoy
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Section 12: Religious Discrimination
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Questions and Answers: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
8
Mass.gov. Board of Review Decision 0073-4849-72
9
Mass.gov. Board of Review Decision 0073-9906-53
10
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Your Protections Against Discrimination Based on Conscience and Religion