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The top-rated discrimination lawyers at Zuckerman Law are deeply committed to zealously advocating on behalf of victims of religious discrimination. It is illegal and contrary to bedrock American values for an employer to discriminate against an applicant, employee, or former employee based upon the individual’s religious beliefs.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act makes it unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire, promote, fire, etc. a person because of their religion. This applies to established religions such as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity, as well as less common religions so long as the person’s religious, moral, or ethical belief is held sincerely.
U.S. News and Best Lawyers® have named Zuckerman Law a Tier 1 firm in Litigation – Labor and Employment in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Contact us today to find out how we can help you. To schedule a preliminary consultation about religious discrimination in the workplace, call us at 202-769-1681, or click here.
Click here to see our videos answering frequently asked questions about discrimination and retaliation.
Employers cannot allow a hostile work environment based on religious discrimination to fester. Although sporadic teasing or unpleasant remarks do not constitute a hostile work environment, if the employee is subjected to unwelcome statements or conduct based on their religion that become severe or pervasive, then the employer may be liable for this harassment.
Also, if a conflict exists between the employee’s sincerely held belief and the job requirements, the employer may be required to accommodate the employee’s religious beliefs. After the employee notifies the employer about the conflict and requests an accommodation, the employee and the employer should discuss possible accommodations. If the modification creates an undue hardship for the employer, then it need not be granted. Absent an undue hardship, however, the employer should provide a reasonable accommodation that eliminates the conflict between the religious belief and the work responsibility.
Assuming no undue hardship exists, these are examples of potential accommodations:
In a December 2019 amicus curiae brief in Patterson v. Walgreens, the Solicitor General advocated the following standard to assess undue hardship:
Under those ordinary meanings, an employer’s “accommodation” of an employee’s religious practice must be suitable to meet the employee’s religious needs— that is, it must actually allow the employee to engage in the religious practice without adverse employment consequences. That is possible only if it eliminates the con- flict between the employee’s religious practice and work. . . Instead, the statute should be read to require the employer to reasonably accommodate the employee’s religious practice to the extent that it can without suffering an undue hardship. If the employer demonstrates that every complete accommodation would result in an undue hardship, it still must offer what might be called a “partial” accommodation that would not result in undue hardship. Cf. Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc., 472 U.S. 703, 712 (1985) (O’Connor, J., concurring) (“Title VII calls for reasonable rather than absolute accommodation.”).
Discrimination based on religion is often associated with national origin, race, and color discrimination as well. If a particular religion is linked to a specific country/region, then the employee may be subjected to both religious and national origin discrimination (for example, a Muslim employee from Yemen).
If an employee requests a religious accommodation, this is generally viewed as protected activity, which means the employer may not then retaliate against the employee because of their request.
If you believe your employer subjected you to religious discrimination, you should consider the following options:
Muslim employee who was allegedly told to remove that “rag” from her head gets new day in court
EEOC Guidance on religious discrimination
EEOC FAQs for Middle Eastern employees
DOJ/Civil Rights Division Religion Roundtable periodical
Bachman writes frequently on employment discrimination issues at the Glass Ceiling Discrimination Blog.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you with a religious discrimination case. To schedule a preliminary consultation, click here or call us at (202) 769-1681.
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