Religious Discrimination

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Religious discrimination is either

occurring more often or being

reported more often than in the past.

Let's take a look at religious

discrimination in the workplace.

Religious discrimination is treating

a person of a group differently because

of the beliefs they hold about a religion.

In 1997, there were 1,709 religious

discrimination complaints filed

with the EEOC, with 2,137 resolutions,

and reasonable cause found in 4.4 percent,

or 95 of those cases.

Reasonable cause exists when the EEOC

believes that there's enough evidence

that discrimination has

occurred to make a case.

In 2015, the number of charges was more

than double that of 1997 at 3,502,

with 3,736 resolutions.

The same cases carried over

from a previous year, and reasonable

cause found in 3.7%, or 139 of the cases.

Religious discrimination

occurs in a variety of forms.

An employer might have a policy that

requires employees to work on Saturdays.

Such a policy could have disparate impact

on an employee whose religion does

not permit working on Saturdays.

The employer would either have

to accommodate an employee by permitting

him or her to work on a day other than

Saturday, or prove that adjusting

the schedule would impose an undue

hardship on the organization.

Undue hardship can take the form

of diminished job efficiency,

higher than usual administrative costs,

impaired safety in the workplace,

need for coworkers to perform hazardous or

burdensome portions of the employee's

work, or a violation of law or regulation.

Employees may also experience religious

harassment, which occurs when employees

are subjected to a hostile work

environment because of their

religious affiliation.

Another important issue for companies is

the extent to which employees can

express religious beliefs at work.

Employers are obligated to make reasonable

accommodation for employees' religious

beliefs, unless doing so would result

in undue hardship for the employer.

If an employer allows employees to keep

personal books on their desk to read

during breaks, the employer would have

to allow an employee to keep a Bible or

a copy of the Quran on his or

her desk to read during breaks.

Religious organizations are permitted

to use religion as a BFOQ

for certain positions.

If a professor at a church-affiliated

university is teaching a course based

on religious principles,

the university may specify that the person

hired must be a member

of the university's religion.

It would be hard to make the case

that custodial staff or clerical staff

at the same university had to be

members of that particular religion.

Religious discrimination is treating

a person or group differently, because

of beliefs they hold about a religion.

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