How to deal with religious discrimination at work?
A Reader Asks This Question:
I’ve worked at a restaurant for four years. when i first started working there i told them that i could not work Friday nights or Saturdays because of my religious beliefs. i also don’t go to any meetings on Saturdays. but now they are telling me that if i don’t go to a meeting on a Saturday that they will take me off the schedule until i do! are they allowed to that even though i have told them and they know that it is against my religious beliefs? and who do i tell of this injustice?
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One Response to How to deal with religious discrimination at work?
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Well, unfortunately, this is probably not religious discrimination.
Religious discrimination occurs when an employer treats someone treated differently because of their religion. So for example, an employer cannot refuse to hire anyone who is Muslim or only promote people who are Catholic.
Now, in addition, employers are required to work with their employees to make it possible for them to observe and practice their religion, but only within reason. These allowances are known as "accommodations". Employers are required by law to accommodate their employee’s religious practices and beliefs UNLESS it would cause the business significant hardship.
One example might be dress code. Observant male Jews always keep their heads covered and requesting permission to retain the head covering while at work would be a reasonable accommodation. In general, it would probably be considered unreasonable for an employer to require an observant male Jewish employee to remove his head covering.
However, it is not unreasonable to require employees to wear a uniform, and to refuse to allow major deviations from that uniform. So for example, observant women in a number of religions wear very modest clothing (e.g., long skirt, long sleeved blouse). It is probably not unreasonable for the manager at a Hooters to refuse to allow a religious female employee working as a waitress to wear such modest attire instead of the standard Hooter’s waitress uniform (tank top and very short shorts). Wearing the uniform is a requirement of the job, because it is part of the "draw" of the restaurant, and having members of the wait staff in more modest clothing could hurt the restaurant’s business.
In your situation, the issue is when you can work. It is not unreasonable for employees to request not to be scheduled to work on their Sabbath day unless that would seriously and negatively affect the work schedule for the business. For example, suppose no one in the restaurant really wants to work on Friday nights (they all want to go out on dates!) So the employer uses a seniority system to allow employees to choose their shifts. For the employer to make you an exception and allow you to have every Friday night off would clearly anger the other employees, some of whom may have worked there longer than you, and could create dissention in the workplace.
As for the Saturday meeting, if that is the only day it is being held, and it is mandatory for all employees, it is not unreasonable of the employer to require all employees to attend on a Saturday. The employer is not discriminating against you – he is not treating you any differently than any other employee because of your religion. Having to schedule an additional meeting on a different day to accommodate your religious beliefs might be an unnecessary hardship and expense for your employer, or it might not be possible (if, for example, someone from corporate HQ is coming from another state to run this meeting and will only be there on that one day). On the other hand, if this meeting is being held on multiple days, and you happen to have been assigned to the Saturday session, then it is not unreasonable to request an accommodation be made and that you be allowed to attend a different session.