Pentagon in ‘Potential Noncompliance’ With Law in Denying Religious Exemption Requests to Vaccine Mandate: Leaked Memo

The Department of Defense (DoD) has been in “potential noncompliance” with standards for reviewing and communicating denials of religious accommodation requests to the vaccine mandate, the Pentagon’s watchdog wrote to the secretary of defense in a June memo obtained by The Epoch Times.

The June 2 memo by Acting Inspector General (IG) Sean W. O’Donnell stated that after reviewing dozens of complaints from service members who were denied religious accommodation, the IG’s office “found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies.”

The purpose of the memo was to inform the secretary of defense of “potential noncompliance with standards for reviewing and documenting the denial of religious accommodation requests of Service members identified through complaints submitted to the [IG’s] office.”

“The denial memorandums we reviewed generally did not reflect an individualized analysis, demonstrating that the Senior Military Official considered the full range of facts and circumstances relevant to the particular religious accommodation request,” the memo stated.

The memo provided an example of such cursory treatment. An Air Force general used a one-sentence statement to deny an Airman’s request: “I disapprove your request for exemption from vaccinations under the provisions of AFI 48-110, paragraph 2-6.b.3.”

The acting IG also noted that the volume and rate of denial decisions were “concerning.”

An average of 50 denials per day were processed over a 90-day period, according to the memo.

“Assuming a 10-hour work day with no breaks or attention to other matters, the average review period was about 12 minutes for each package,” it stated.

“Such a review period seems insufficient to process each request in an individualized manner and still perform the duties required for their position,” the memo continued.

A military member gets a COVID-19 vaccine in

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