Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, often regarded as the religious discrimination law, prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion. While complaints against employers of religious discrimination in the workplace are smaller in number than complaints based on racial or sexual discrimination, the total number of cases of religious discrimination has been growing since the beginning of the 21st Century, according to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC).
Just like racial and sexual discrimination, the best way to be in compliance with laws against religious discrimination is for an employer to work closely with religious discrimination attorneys and establish policies and procedures to avoid religious harassment. It is important to take a proactive approach to getting information about dealing with religious discrimination in business environments and to know what steps you need to take to accommodate persons of various religions, as well as what things to avoid.
You should know:
- Employers may not legally refuse to hire an employee because of their religious practices with one exception: in which there is a bona fide occupational requirement where the nature of the job requires the position to be filled with someone of a particular faith, e.g. a Catholic priest needs to be a practicing Catholic.
- You must work with your employees to accommodate their religion unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on your legitimate business interests. Some examples the EEOC lists as to how an employer can accommodate a religious belief include: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, and modification of grooming requirements.
- In accordance with religious discrimination laws, as an employer, you can impose restrictions on religious expression at the workplace as long as you don’t try to place more restrictions on religious speech than on other forms of speech that could have the same effect in your workplace.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Review information about religious discrimination and know the law
The primary law against religious discrimination in the United States is Title VII. It's easy to educate yourself on the strictures of this law and design policies to ensure you're in compliance with it.
I recommend: A great place to start is the
EEOC website, which succinctly sums up the laws against religious discrimination.
Nolo translates the EEOC guidelines into laymen’s terms, offering examples that explain what employers need to do to ensure they are in compliance with the law.
Workplace Fairness offers an extensive FAQ on what actually constitutes religious discrimination.
Establish a workplace policy to comply with the religious discrimination law
Employers need to have a policy that defines what constitutes religious discrimination and what religious practices they will accommodate. Utilize religious discrimination lawyers and religious discrimination law firms to help your business establish these policies.
I recommend: Findlaw not only has detailed sections that discuss religious discrimination, but links to lawyers, law firms, websites, and software available to help you design a policy.
Bizmanualz.com offers prewritten policies and manuals as a starting point which you can use to build your own custom policy.
Educate your employees about religious discrimination in the workplace
Employees need to know what is considered right and wrong, in regards to religious discrimination at work. Educating them on the religious discrimination laws and how to be sensitive to the religious beliefs of fellow employees is an important start to avoiding cases of religious discrimination.
I recommend: CEJI.org and
multifaithcentre.org are websites of European origin that provide helpful training modules and materials on religious discrimination.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- When in doubt, always refer to the EEOC guidelines for clarification of what constitutes religious discrimination under the law.
- Handle any religious request or issue that affects your business on a case-by-case basis. Balance the competing concerns of religious discrimination and potential harm or disruption to your business, when deciding whether to grant the request.
The official source of Religious Discrimination Law is
the Religious Discrimination Law page at Business.com
Related Resources from Business.com
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