[Excerpts from a special article written by Louis P. DiLorenzo, Esq.]
On July 22, 2008, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination. The Manual is composed of five main sections:
- defining coverage,
- explaining how employment decisions may impact disparately on a person's religious beliefs,
- describing various forms of harassment,
- defining reasonable accommodation, and
- defining undue hardship, common methods of accommodation and related forms of discrimination.
Religion is a sole protected category under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which requires reasonable accommodation. Employers must accommodate an employee's sincerely held religious beliefs, observances and practices when requested, unless accommodation would impose an "undue hardship on business operations." An employee is obligated to make the employer aware of a need for religious accommodation and that it is being requested due to a conflict between religion and work. The employee is also obligated to explain the religious nature of the belief or practice at issue.
Similarly, the employer should ask the employee to explain the religious practic and work conflict. As stated by the Manual, a "failure to confer with the employee is not an independent violation of Title VII but, as a practical matter, such failure can have adverse legal consequences.
The employer is not obligated to provide an employee's preferred religious accommodation. The accommodation need only be "reasonable," and reasonableness is determined on a case-by-case basis. Courts have found undue hardship where an accommodation:
- diminishes job efficiency,
- infringes on other employees' job rights or beliefs,
- impairs workplace safety, or
- causes co-workers to carry the accommodated workers share of burdensome work.
Common methods of religious accommodation include scheduling changes, voluntary substitutes and shift swaps, changes in job tasks and lateral transfers.
A complex challenge to an employer is accommodating expressions of religious beliefs within the workplace. To determine whether such actions should be permitted, the employer must determine whether they pose an undue hardship.
Religion is very broadly defined as "moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views" and does not require a belief in a god. Title VII only requires accommodation to those religious beliefs that "are sincerely held." The Manual warns employers to "ordinarily assume that an employee's request for religious accommodation is based on a sincerly-held religious belief." And in that regard, an Employer should not make assumptions about the legitimacy of a claimed religious practice or belief.
[Mr. DiLorenzo is a Senior Partner at Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC and Chair of it Labor & Employment Benefits & Executive Compensation and Immigration Practice Group.]
Comments