When my sister got her first job, she was excited about getting several days off from work on account of the approaching Lenten season. Her supervisor quickly gave her a reality check – the United States is not a Catholic country. Sunday which is ordinarily a day of worship, is a working day in most establishments, and Holy Week is a working week; and you don’t get a free day unless the religious day happens to fall on your day off. She or another employee can request that her day off fall on her day of worship, but it will not be a day off for the entire company.
The United States is a melting pot of diverse cultures, and it is natural to expect that religious beliefs be also diverse. The right to religion is a right guaranteed by the Constitution; on the other hand, the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".
Religious freedom has been interpreted so much so as to consider not only the rights of the believer but the unbeliever as well. Religion and prayers are eradicated from our public schools after the case of McCollum vs. Board of Education [333 U.S. 203 (1948)] was decided by the US Supreme Court, to wit:
“To hold that a state cannot consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments utilize its public school system to aid any or all religious faiths or sects in the dissemination of their doctrines and ideals does not … manifest a governmental hostility to religion or religious teachings. … For the First Amendment rests upon the premise that both religion and government can best work to achieve their lofty aims if each is left free from the other within its respective sphere.”
Clearly, individuals employed as teachers or in any capacity in the educational system cannot openly exercise their faith. How about employees in other sectors and industries such as retailing?
Statistics provided by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shows that there were 3,721 Religion-Based Charges in 2013, the third of the most common type of employment discrimination (disability being first and sexual harassment, second). Out of the 3,721 charges, only 168 were found have reasonable cause against the employer. Some of the charges were settled, others were withdrawn with benefits to the employee discriminated upon, and there is a small percentage of unsuccessful conciliations. [1]
When Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) was passed, it prohibited employment discrimination based on religion, but didn’t define the term “religion,” and was later amended to qualify that “the term ‘religion’ includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.”[2]
The EEOC defined religious practices by workers to “include moral or ethical beliefs about what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.”[3]
In 2009, Abercrombie & Fitch was sued for allegedly turning down an otherwise qualified job applicant on account of her Muslim headscarf because "under the Look Policy, associates must wear clothing that is consistent with the Abercrombie brand, cannot wear hats or other coverings, and cannot wear clothes that are the color black". The company lost the legal battle.
Employers have the right to exercise managerial prerogatives, and this includes who to hire, train, promote, fire, and vice versa but the law does not allow them to discriminate especially on the basis of one’s religious orientation.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines religious discrimination. It “ involves treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs. The law protects not only people who belong to traditional, organized religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs.” There is also religious discrimination in “treating someone differently because that person is married to (or associated with) an individual of a particular religion or because of his or her connection with a religious organization or group”.
Harassment in a work place on account of one’s religion is illegal if it is “so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted)”.
Segregation is another form of discrimination such as when an employee wearing a religious garb is deliberately assigned to a depart with no or very minimal contact with the public for fear that it might affect customer preferences.
The law prescribes that employers allow reasonable accommodation so that an employee may exercise his or her religious beliefs. Such may come is the form of having a reasonable schedule/shifts, and permitting them to wear religious garb. A local restaurant here in Seattle, provides ample space for their Muslim workers to pray.
Every rule has an exception, and an employer would be justifying in not accommodating an employee’s religious practices if it would cause him (the employer) undue hardship. There is undue hardship if accommodating the religious belief is costly, compromises workplace safety, decreases workplace efficiency, infringes on the rights of other employees, or requires other employees to do more than their share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work.
The law strongly recommends accommodation which in simple terms can also mean to tolerate or compromise. There is nothing impossible when parties compromise. While my sister was not allowed to take the entire Holy Week off from work, her supervisor allowed her to swap with a co-worker so can switch her regular Monday day off to Friday that week (which was Good Friday, an important religious day for Catholics).
[1] http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/religion.cfm
[2] 42 U.S.C. �2000e(j)
[3] http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/religion.html
[4] http://www.newser.com/story/173986/abercrombie-loses-muslim-headscarf-suit.html
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