USDA Guidance on Federally Protected Religious Expression & Accommodation Rights

On November 20, 2025, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued Secretary's Memorandum 1078-019, USDA Guidance on Federally Protected Religious Expression and Accommodation Rights, setting workplace guidance for employees and supervisors on religious expression and accommodation across all mission areas. The memorandum implements the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) July 28, 2025 government-wide guidance, which encouraged agencies to align their internal policies with protections for federal employees' private religious expression, and Secretary Rollins's announcement tied it to Executive Order 14,291 establishing the Religious Liberty Commission. The memorandum states that USDA must accommodate religious expression "to the greatest extent possible" unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on operations, that employees may engage in private religious expression in the workplace to the same extent as private nonreligious expression, and that supervisors must not restrict expression of a religious character where comparable nonreligious expression is permitted.