Preventing Religious Discrimination in the Workplace

By Cara Whedbee, Ph.D.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in response to an increase in claims regarding religious discrimination in the workplace, has provided resources for employers on their Web site to help reduce and prevent such discrimination.

What is the Law?

According to the EEOC, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers with at least 15 employees, as well as employment agencies and unions, from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. This act also prohibits retaliation against persons who complain of discrimination or participate in an EEO investigation. With respect to religion, Title VII prohibits:

• Treating applicants or employees differently based on their religious beliefs or practices – or lack thereof – in any aspect of employment;
• Subjecting employees to harassment because of their religious beliefs or practices – or lack thereof – or because of the religious practices or beliefs of people with whom they associate (e.g., relatives, friends, etc.);
• Denying a requested reasonable accommodation of an applicant’s or employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs or practices – or lack thereof – if an accommodation will not impose more than a de minimis cost or burden on business operations; and
• Retaliating against an applicant or employee who has engaged in protected activity, including participation (e.g., filing an EEO charge or testifying as a witness in someone else’s EEO matter), or opposition to religious discrimination (e.g., complaining to human resources department about alleged religious discrimination).

What are Some Best Practices for Preventing Religious Discrimination in the Workplace?

On the EEOC’s Web site is a listing of “best practices” to eradicate religious discrimination in the workplace. Below are some of the “best practices” you can utilize to prevent religious discrimination in your business:

• Establish written objective criteria for evaluating candidates for hire or promotion and apply those criteria consistently to all candidates.
• Carefully and timely record the accurate business reasons for disciplinary or performance-related actions and share these reasons with the affected employees.
• Provide training to inexperienced managers and encourage them to consult with more experienced managers or human resources personnel when addressing difficult issues.
• Consider engaging with and educating the customers regarding any misperceptions they may have and/or the equal employment opportunity laws if confronted with customer biases (e.g., an adverse reaction to being served by an employee due to religious garb).
• Have a well-publicized and consistently applied anti-harassment policy that:

• Allow religious expression among employees to the same extent that you allow other types of personal expressions that are not harassing or disruptive.
• Immediately intervene when you become aware of objectively abusive or insulting conduct, even absent a complaint.
• Encourage managers to intervene proactively and discuss with subordinates whether particular religious expression is welcome if the manager believes the expression might be construed as harassing to a reasonable person.
• Supervisors, even though they are permitted to engage in certain religious expressions, should avoid expression that might – due to their supervisory authority – reasonably be perceived by subordinates as coercive, even when not so intended.
• Inform employees that you will make reasonable efforts to accommodate their religious practices.
• Individually assess each request and avoid assumptions or stereotypes about what constitutes a religious belief or practice or what type of accommodation is appropriate.
• Consider the employee’s proposed method of accommodation, and if it is denied, explain to the employee why his/her proposed accommodation is not being granted.
• Work with employees who need an adjustment to their work schedule to accommodate their religious practices. For example, some employers have policies allowing alternative work schedules and/or a certain number of “floating” holidays for each employee. While such policies may not cover every eventuality and some individual accommodations may still be needed, the number of such individual accommodations may be substantially reduced.
• Make efforts to accommodate an employee’s desire to wear a yarmulke, hijab, or other religious garb. If you are concerned about uniform appearance in a position which involves interaction with the public, it may be appropriate to consider whether the employee’s religious views would permit him/her to resolve the religious conflict by, for example, wearing the item of religious garb in the company uniform color(s).
• Be sensitive to the risk of unintentionally pressuring or coercing employees to attend social gatherings after the employees have indicated a religious objection to attending.
• Train managers to gauge the actual disruption posed by religious expression in the workplace, rather than merely speculating that disruption may result. You should also train managers to identify alternative accommodations that might be offered to avoid actual disruption (e.g., designating an unused or private location in the workplace where a prayer session or Bible study meeting can occur if it is disrupting other workers).
• Reduce the risk of retaliation claims by training managers and supervisors to be aware of their anti-retaliation obligations under Title VII, including specific actions that may constitute retaliation.
• Carefully and timely record the accurate business reasons for disciplinary or performance related actions and share these reasons with the employee to help reduce the risk of retaliation claims.

It is in your best interest to ensure you are protecting your employees from religious discrimination and retaliation in the workplace. Besides consulting with a Human Resources professional or an employment law attorney, a complete listing of questions and answers and best practices regarding preventing religious discrimination in the workplace can be found on the EEOC Web site. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers with at least 15 employees, as well as employment agencies and unions, from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.