Religious accommodation and exemptions have been in the news a lot recently, with both very good and very inaccurate information being thrown around. While there is a great deal of litigation and new legislation on the topic, we thought it may be helpful to share some of what we know. While the issue of religion and the law is vast, this piece focuses on one of our firm’s primary practice areas: accommodation in the workplace.
First off, protection may not be coming from where you think. While Freedom of Religion is guaranteed by the First Amendment, its actually Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prevents private employers from discriminating against employees because of their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs and requires them to provide religious accommodations when reasonable. Some states have laws
that provide additional protections as well, like Rhode Island’s Fair Employment Practices Act, which apply to employers within those states.
How do you know if your religious or moral beliefs are “sincerely held” for the purposes of Title VII? Basically, it means that you really believe them and try to live your life in accordance with those beliefs. It doesn’t matter if religious or moral authorities agree with you, if you sometimes fall short of living up to your beliefs, or how stringently you abide by other aspects of your religious or moral code: as long as you aren’t pretending or claiming to hold a belief just to get something you want, your belief qualifies as sincere. “Religious beliefs” is defined to include theistic beliefs (i.e. those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic moral or ethical beliefs about right and wrong that are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views. Employers will sometimes try to attack this prong, but it tends to be very difficult to show that an employee’s beliefs are insincere.
The next question is whether your employer can provide you with a reasonable accommodation. There are limits to how far your employer must go to accommodate you, and they depend on the specific factual circumstances. For example, ensuring that a worker has a certain day of the week off for religious observances is usually viewed as reasonable. However, if you work for a restaurant that is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, having one of those days off every week may be a much bigger burden on your employer and it could depend on the details of your position whether that would be a reasonable accommodation. While every case is different, generally accommodations that are expensive, require your employer to eliminate key job duties, or that require hiring additional staff are not found to be reasonable, while more minor accommodations like a reasonable place and time for prayer, wearing a certain item of clothing like a kippah or headscarf, or certain religious holidays off are usually reasonable.
Your employer may have a policy in place for requesting reasonable accommodations which you can follow. Although some employers, particularly small employers, don’t have a written policy, your employer must consider any reasonable request, whether sent through formal or informal channels. Once received, your employer doesn’t necessarily have to give you the accommodation you asked for, but they have an obligation to engage in a back-and-forth dialogue about whether there is another way to accommodate your beliefs. If there is a reasonable accommodation available and known to your employer, they must give it to you, even if it’s not the one you initially requested or even suggested by you at all.
Sinapi Law Associates, Ltd. has a proven track record over a period of nearly 40 years of protecting and vindicating the employment law rights of individuals. You can learn more about our employment law practice here. If you believe your employment law rights may have been violated, you can submit a request for a free case evaluation here or give us a call at 401-739-9690.
