Workforce

VA asks employees to report ‘anti-Christian discrimination’ to new task force

The VA task force asks employees if they were disciplined for refusing vaccine mandates, not performing abortions or not administering hormone therapy.

Jory Heckman@jheckmanWFED

April 22, 2025 4:15 pm

2 min read

The Department of Veterans Affairs is asking its employees to report “any instance of anti-Christian discrimination” to a newly launched task force.

VA Secretary Doug Collins, in an email sent to employees Tuesday, said the department launched a task force to review the Biden administration’s “treatment of Christians.” Collins is a former Air Force chaplain.

“The VA Task Force now requests all VA employees to submit any instance of anti-Christian discrimination to Anti-ChristianBiasReporting.@va.gov,” the email obtained by Federal News Network states. “Submissions should include sufficient identifiers such as names, dates, and locations.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 6 focused on “eradicating anti-Christian bias.”

The email states the department will review “all instances of anti-Christian bias,” but is specifically seeking instances in which employees believe they were denied promotions for “religious reasons,” or faced retaliation for seeking a religious exemption to vaccine mandates.

The Biden administration faced a protracted legal battle over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the federal workforce. Former President Joe Biden officially revoked the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in a May 2023 executive order.

The VA fired several health care employees who didn’t comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The department is also looking to hear from any employees who were disciplined or “threatened” if they refused to participate in certain medical procedures, including abortions or hormone therapy for transgender veterans.

The VA, in an interim rule published in September 2022, announced it would provide abortions for veterans in life-threatening situations due to a pregnancy or in cases of rape and incest. The policy also protected VA health care providers from legal action in states where abortion is outlawed.

The VA updated its policy shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.

The VA is also looking for any examples where employees were denied a religious accommodation or faced adverse action over observing religious holidays or displaying Christian imagery or symbols.

The Supreme Court in June 2023 made it harder for all employers to deny religious accommodations. In a unanimous opinion, the court said businesses must grant religious accommodations to workers unless doing so would result in “substantial increased costs” carrying out the business.

The court’s ruling in Groff v. DeJoy raised the bar from a previous requirement that employers must demonstrate more than “de minimis,” or minor costs, to claim an employee’s religious accommodation is unreasonable.

The Supreme Court made its ruling in the case of Gerald Groff, a former rural letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who refused to work Sundays.

The VA task force is asking for any examples of retaliatory action against VA chaplains in response to sermons preached.