Definition of Employer Religion Discrimination
Religious discrimination involves treating a person differently because of her religious beliefs. The United States was founded on a strong belief in the importance of religious freedom. Separation of church and state is mandated by the Constitution and freedom of religion is considered a fundamental right. Freedom of religion involves not just the right to worship wherever and however one wishes, but it also guarantees the right to be protected from persecution on the basis of those beliefs.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends this religious freedom to the workplace, by prohibiting employers and companies from discriminating against any person or employee on the basis of their religious beliefs or practices.
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Title VII
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed to protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of several factors, including race, sex, gender and religion. Title VII applies to public and private employers with 15 or more employees, as well as federal, state and local government employers, employment agencies and labor organizations or unions.
Title VII prohibits discrimination in the hiring, firing, terms or conditions of employment. Thus, Title VII mandates that an employer not only can't refuse to hire or promote someone because of their religious beliefs, but also that an employer must ensure that a work environment is not hostile for a person of particular religious beliefs.
Title VII Definition of Religion
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Title VII protects religious observation, practices and beliefs. Title VII has a very broad definition of religion. Traditional organized religions are included, as are religious beliefs that are unorthodox, new, uncommon and/or not subscribed to be an official church. There is no reasonableness requirement for religious beliefs, practices or observation and there are no requirements that a religion must be believed or practiced by a certain number of people. Even those with traditional religious beliefs can have religious practices that fall outside the officially recognized or accepted tenets of their religion.
Religious beliefs include theistic beliefs, related to God, and non-theistic beliefs based on moral principles of right and wrong.
The litmus test for determining religion dictates that the belief must be strongly held and concern ultimate ideas about life, purpose and death. Personal preferences about social situations, politics or economics do not constitute religious beliefs protected under Title VII.
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General Rules
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Employers can't treat any employee or applicant more or less favorably on the basis of that person's religious beliefs. This means employers can't make hiring decisions, promotion decisions, work assignments or any other employment decisions on the basis of whether the employee or potential employee does or does not practice a particular religion.
Employers also can't force or compel employees to participate or refrain from participating in any religious activity as a condition of employment.
Finally, employers must allow employees to engage in religious expression, as long as the religious expression does not impose undue hardship on the other employees or have an adverse effect on workplace efficiency.
Accommodating Religion
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As a general rule, employers must reasonably accommodate an employee's sincere religious beliefs and practices, unless such accommodation would place an undue burden or hardship on the employer.
Certain types of accommodation have been viewed to be reasonable to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices. For example, employers may have to adjust the work environment slightly, allow flexible schedules, facilitate voluntary shift changes or substitutions arranged among employees, provide lateral transfers or work reassignments, modify grooming requirements or dress-code policies, or alter other workplace policies, procedures and practices if such alteration would not affect efficiency or create an undue hardship.
Employers are not required to accommodate religious beliefs and practices if it would create an undue burden or hardship on a legitimate business interest. Undue hardship can be proven if an employer can show that the accommodation requires costs exceeding routine administrative costs, diminishes workplace efficiency, infringes on the rights or benefits of other employees, impairs workplace safety and/or shifts potentially hazardous or burdensome work to other co-workers unfairly, or if the accommodation conflicts with other laws or legal standards.
Exemption for Religious Organizations
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Religious organizations and educational institutions are exempt from religious discrimination provisions under Title VII. A religious organization is defined as one whose "purpose and character is primarily religious." In determining whether an organization qualifies as a religious organization, courts generally look at the organization's stated purpose, articles of incorporation, day-to-day operations, products, educational curriculum and potential status as a nonprofit or affiliation with a church or religious organization.
Organizations that qualify as religious organizations are permitted to give preference to hiring employees within their own religion, even if the specific job being hired for is not a religious job.
The other prohibitions of Title VII, including prohibitions against race, color, national origin, sex, age and disability still apply. Thus, for example, a religious organization can't refuse to hire a woman because of a fundamental belief within the religion that men are superior. However, there is an exception to this entitlement called the ministerial exception. The ministerial exception dictates that clergy members can't bring any Title VII claims, including those for religious discrimination, the above listed factors and/or age discrimination. This exception exists because the First Amendment dictates that the federal government can't dictate or interfere with church authority.
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