Do your religious beliefs impact your job requirements? Under a 1972 amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, religious accommodations in the workplace are obligatory as long as those accommodations do not cause the employer undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business. What does that mean for you? The experienced team at Beck Law P.C., can help you sort through the specifics of your circumstances and help you with a legal remedy to your situation.

What Does the Law Say About Religious Accommodations?

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals designated three features that determine whether a belief is religious and eligible for Title VII accommodations. Those features comprise:

• The belief compelling the accommodation must truly be religious;
• It must be a sincerely held religious belief:
• Accommodation must not impose an undue hardship on the conduct of business.

Specific circumstances addressed by various courts include a range of issues, but it is clear that the law protects both the traditions of organized religion and the practice of dearly held religious or moral beliefs of unaffiliated individuals. Indeed, “any belief related to the afterlife, spirituality, or the soul…qualifies as religion under Title VII.”

Requests for Leave and/or Scheduling for Religious Accommodations

Employers are directed through Title VII to make reasonable accommodations for an employee who requests time off for religious holy days or to participate in ceremonies or other activities with religious significance. Additionally, daily schedules may be adapted to allow for prayer or other religious requirements.

Dress and Grooming

Employees must express to their employers any religious restrictions on dress and grooming, and employers must make reasonable accommodations. Recent cases involving the wearing of a headscarf/hijab support the employee’s right to dress in accordance with religious tenets.

Job Duties

The array of duties that may conflict with a given religious stance is quite broad, and individual circumstances differ widely, making it difficult to determine hard and fast rules regarding religious accommodations in the workplace. That being said, recent trends indicate that it is the employee’s responsibility to notify the employer of religious conflicts and desired accommodations. As long as those accommodations do not infringe on the rights of other employees or create undue hardship for the employer, the courts tend to support the need for accommodation. [Read more…]