Employer's Title VII Obligations for

¶ … Employer's Title VII obligations for the protected class of "religion" as compared with all of the other protected classes under Title VII Because of Title VII, employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices, except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted by the nature of the employment.

An employer may not refuse to hire or impose stricter promotion requirements for individuals of a certain religion, just as he or she cannot act differently towards individuals because of their race, gender, or other protected Title VII status, such as their disability. Also, employees cannot be forced to participate or not participate in religious activities and employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees' religious practices and beliefs so long as they do not place an undue hardship upon the employer.

Examples of these reasonable accommodations (but are not limited to) flexible scheduling or modification of dress requirements Such additional stipulations may seem to highlight a slight distinction in the nature of prohibitions regarding religious status -- it is not enough to simply hire individuals regardless of religious affiliation, rather employers must make reasonable accommodations and not force employees to profess a faith, unless requirements that conflict with the employee's faith are integral to the nature of the office and doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.

An employer also must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs by, for example, allowing an Orthodox Jewish employee to leave before sundown on the Sabbath, or by allowing a Muslim woman to cover her hair with a headscarf. However, this is really not a distinct difference to Title IV law in regards to religion.

It may be seen as analogous to not creating a hostile workforce environment by, for example, prohibiting all pregnant employees for no justifiable reason, which would discriminate against women, or prohibiting an employer from displaying the Confederate flag in his or her office, which would create a harassing environment for African-Americans, just as requiring individuals to engage in a Christian form of worship a work would harass a Jewish employee.

Furthermore, if accommodating the religious beliefs of the employer would cause the employer undue hardship, compliance is not required, as is true of other protected categories. For example, a moving company can require.