📣Call To Action: Email or Write

Use your voice to tell government officials that a database tracking religious exemptions of unvaccinated individuals is unacceptable.

Background Info

While some Americans are breathing a sigh of relief after the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Biden administration's OSHA large employer vaccine mandate, federal employees are still subject to the Covid-19 vaccination requirement.

Although some have applied for and been granted religious exemptions to complying with the mandate, a federal agency has moved to create a centralized database under the guise of the government's commitment to public safety.

You can read more about this database and other federal agencies' proposed or newly created lists of employee religious exemptions here.

The system keeps track of “personal religious information” that is collected “in the context of a public health emergency or similar health and safety incident, such as a pandemic, epidemic, natural disaster or national or regional emergency and/or any other lawful collection of employee information or data that is necessary to ensure a safe and healthy environment for individuals.”

The entry to the Federal Register can be found here.

There is an open comment period ending Feb 10, 2022. While it seems that the federal government is testing the waters with this registry system among federal employees, it's not too large a leap to imagine implementation on a broader scale.

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CTA Info

📍You must direct comments to the Senior Agency Official for Privacy, SHEILA STOKES via email or mail by February 10, 2022. (Direct online comments through the Federal Register entry are turned off; go figure.)

Email: sheila.stokes@csosa.gov

Mail: Office of General Counsel, 800 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 702, Washington, DC 20001

📍Your comment must state the agency Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia AND the document file #CSOSA-2022-0001-0001.

Here is sample text of the comment you can send.

Dear Sheila,

In regards to:

CSOSA-2022-0001-0001 for Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia

As the Senior Agency Official for Privacy, you can appreciate the many concerns a database/system like the “Employee Religious Exemption Request Information System” can raise. In the past, many data breaches and privacy violations involving government databases have left private and personal data open to both domestic and foreign access. This is a grave concern.

Having personal and religious information stored in a system where access can mean the sharing of private and very personal data of federal employees (or anyone) is unacceptable. How will you protect the data of federal employees and anyone added to this system? The government has proven time and time again that it CANNOT protect the data of its citizens.

Not only does it violate the privacy of many Americans, but this information could be utilized to foster religious discrimination in the workplace, among agencies, or in the community at large. Placing it in a centralized database invites intrusion, bias and targeting. I do not see how this can be prevented regardless of cybersecurity measures, anti-discrimination training or laws barring this behavior.

These are significant concerns and I must oppose the design and implementation of such a system. I appreciate the opportunity for comment and hope you seriously consider how consequential the impact of this database could be on the federal workforce, governmental integrity and the American people now and in the future.

Sincerely,

<YOUR NAME>