Religion in the Workplace: Thou Shalt Not Discriminate

The holiday season makes an ideal time to focus on the law regarding religion in the workplace. As a starting point, Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on religion. In 2003, the EEOC reported more than 2,500 religious discrimination claims. Not surprisingly, many of these claims are combined with national origin discrimination allegations (i.e. someone claims discrimination because they are from an Arab country, as well as Muslim).

The EEOC makes these points on its Web site:

"If your company's dress code conflicts with religious practices, the employer must modify the dress code unless doing so would result in undue hardship. The EEOC's guidelines on religious discrimination can be found by going to www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-relig_ethnic.html.

"In most cases, whether or not a practice or a belief is religious is not an issue. However, the EEOC defines religious practices to include moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong, which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional, religious views. The fact that no religious group espouses such beliefs, or that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong might not accept such belief, will not determine whether the belief is a religious belief of the employee or prospective employee. The phrase 'religious practices' includes both religious observances and practices."

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Here are more guidelines to consider:

It's an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless the employer demonstrates that accommodation will mean undue hardship in conducting its business.
If a test or selection procedure is scheduled at a time when an employee or prospective employee can't attend because of religious practices, the employer must accommodate the person unless undue hardship would result.
An employer may not ask about an employee's religious background unless justified by business necessity.
An employer may state the normal work hours for a job and ask if the employee is able to work those hours. Then after a position is offered, but before the applicant is hired, the employer can inquire into the need for religious accommodation and determine whether this is possible.