Accommodate Sincere Religious Beliefs

08/21/08

A woman working for an armored-car company didn’t want to wear the uniform the other employees wore. Rather than wear the required pants, she asked to wear culottes. She’d even pay for them. The company said no, then fired her.

Simple case of insubordination or failure to follow policy? Nope. Religious discrimination. It seems the woman was of the Pentacostal faith and wearing pants went against her religious beliefs. She went to the EEOC, which decided the company discriminated against her. Before long, she had a settlement of $30,000 and attorney’s fees in hand.

The EEOC’s regional attorney in the case, John C. Hendrickson, said, “This . . . is an important reminder for employers that Title VII requires reasonable accommodations of an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs. In our religiously pluralistic society, employers cannot unreasonably create inflexible policies that infringe upon an individual’s ability to live in accordance with his or her religious beliefs.”

Title VII Rules the Workplace The law Hendrickson mentioned, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is the law that bans workplace discrimination based on sex, national origin, race, color, and religion. The law, which applies to employers with fifteen or more employees, covers all aspects of employment. That includes:

• Hiring and firing;


• Transfer, promotion, layoff, and recall;


• Recruitment;


• Testing and training;


• Use of company facilities;


• Pay, benefits, and time off;


• Other terms and conditions of employment.

The last item on the list is in part a catchall designed to discourage co-workers from harassing an employee on account of religion. If the behavior is severe enough—in the form of pranks played, intimidation, name calling, and so forth—it can create what’s called a hostile environment, something to be avoided at all costs. The EEOC just settled a hostile-environment case involving religious discrimination with an Arizona car dealership. It ended up paying $341,451 out of pocket to resolve the situation.

Work to Accommodate Discrimination cases often arise when a company refuses to accommodate a person’s religious beliefs. As in the culottes case, accommodation needn’t be difficult. Say, for example, you have scheduled an examination for promotion to a higher grade on Yom Kippur. A Jewish employee asks if he can take the test the day before. In most cases, a prudent employer will say yes.

One thing many employers wonder: What if an employee practicing some odd, out-of-the-mainstream religion demands an accommodation? “Odd is in the eye of the beholder,” maintains G.Neil compliance attorney Ashley Kaplan. “Protecting beliefs you don’t understand gets to the heart of what the law is all about.” What matters is that religious beliefs are “sincerely held.” Adds Kaplan, “The law even protects the beliefs of atheists.”
Easy accommodations include:

• Allowing deviations from the dress or grooming code(unless it poses a safety hazard);


• Scheduling work activities around an employee’s religious needs;


• Permitting voluntary job swaps;


• Reassigning an employee;


• Excusing employees from motivational programs that conflict with their religious beliefs;


• Allowing use of an empty room for prayer during break times.

Employers don’t have to accept the accommodation the employee wants. All you need to do is adhere to the law. What’s more, says Kaplan, “you don’t have to accommodate an employee if doing so presents an ‘undue hardship.’” The EEOC defines that as an accommodation that involves “more than ordinary” administrative costs.

“There are few hard-and-fast rules for what constitutes an undue hardship,” she says. “Much depends on the size and nature of your organization. Reassigning an employee to another job to accommodate a religious belief may be easy to do in a large company, for example, but nearly impossible in a small one.” If you’re unsure whether a hardship situation exists, advises Kaplan, speak to a qualified employment attorney.

Keep Chatting
Whatever you do, keep a dialogue going with an employee requesting a religious accommodation. Working together—and creatively—you should be able to come up with an accommodation that works for you both. And that beats going to court.

Exclusive to G.Neil, our From Sex To Religion and Everything In Between Video will get your employees’ attention right away, with true to life examples that could happen in any workplace. The video challenges viewers to identify harassing behaviors.

Employers are liable for harassment committed by employees if management “knew” or “should have known” about the harassment and didn’t take prompt action to correct it, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. Protect your company from costly damages with G.Neil’s Harassment Prevention Program. It provides training and awareness for employees and managers.

If an employee files a harassment claim, your best defense is a prompt response – and proof of it! With our Harassment Investigation Kit you’ll have the tools necessary to launch a comprehensive investigation within 48 hours as recommended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).