What You Must Know to Fight Religious Discrimination at Work

Employment discrimination based on religion is disparate treatment in hiring and conduct toward a person in the workplace, because of a person’s religious beliefs, practices, or convictions (which includes religious dress and grooming practices), or what an employer perceives as a person’s religious beliefs, practices or convictions.  The unlawful conduct may include disparate treatment in hiring, training, termination, or compensation; or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.  In a nutshell, religious discrimination includes treating employees and workers poorly or differently than other workers, or harassing them, because of their serious religious beliefs, practices, or convictions.  These laws also apply to labor organizations and employment agencies.

California’s FEHA and the federal Title VII each highlight the significance of providing workplace religious accommodations by forbidding employers from either blatant or more subtle forms of intimidation or disparate treatment of workers based on religion.  These laws affirmatively require employers to accommodate religious beliefs and observances.  The religious accommodation requested must reasonably be granted unless the employer can show undue hardship – which typically involves significant difficulty or expense.  Examples of what employers can do to comply with requests for religious accommodations include implementing job modifications such as scheduling changes, or access to private areas for religious observances during the day.

Both the FEHA and Title VII require employers to make concessions to a worker’s serious religious beliefs, practices, or convictions.  These requirements are designed to allow workers to practice their religion freely and without fear of discrimination.

It might be considered a hostile or abusive workplace if you frequently experience harassment, discrimination, or disrespectful behavior at your workplace because of your religious beliefs, practices or convictions, or other protected civil right characteristics, such as (under the FEHA) race, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status.

Under the FEHA, protection from religious discrimination applies to all religions, sincerely held religious beliefs or moral beliefs, a spouse’s religion, and even to a religion that your employer perceives, as well as a religious creed (which includes, with certain limits, beliefs, observances, or practices which an individual sincerely holds and which occupy in his or her life a place of importance parallel to that of traditionally recognized religions).  Under Title VII, religious practices include moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.  If you believe you are facing any sort of discrimination based on your religious beliefs, practices, or convictions, you are entitled to file a complaint with the appropriate authorities by filling out and submitting a complaint form.

To report employment discrimination, including religious discrimination, employees and workers can submit a complaint to California’s Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).  These entities enforce the FEHA and Title VII, respectively.

Employers are expressly prohibited by the FEHA and Title VII from firing employees based on their religious views, beliefs, practices or convictions.  Other religious discrimination practices may include refusal to hire; refusal to select for training; demotion; termination (being fired); less compensation or reduction in salary; denial of a promotion, denial of reinstatement or denial of benefits; being forced to quit; or in general being harassed because of your religious beliefs, practices or convictions.

The implementation of workplace HR policies that encourage diversity and inclusion can aid in avoiding and resolving cases of religious discrimination in the workplace.

Cultural Competence is the ability of an individual to understand and respect values, attitudes, beliefs, and mores that differ across cultures, and to consider and respond appropriately to these differences in planning, implementing, and evaluating various programs and interventions.  The FEHA and Title VII are designed to promote an employer’s comprehension and willingness to honor a range of religious views, which supports cultural competency and encourages an inclusive atmosphere.

Intersectionality is the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.  It is the acknowledgment that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and also that anything and everything that can marginalize people should be considered, including religion gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and physical ability, among many others.   Acknowledgment of the interdependence of diverse identities, such as religion, facilitates the resolution of the distinct obstacles encountered by individuals, including workers facing religious discrimination in the workplace.

It takes skilled legal professionals who are committed to upholding employee rights to handle explicit and subtle occurrences of religious discrimination in the work environment. UELG’s knowledgeable and professional religious discrimination attorneys are skilled in handling situations involving hostile work environments, offering assistance, and fighting for reasonable accommodations to promote deeply held religious convictions. We are dedicated to helping maintain the tenets of California’s FEHA and the federal Title VII and to encourage diverse and inclusive work environments.