Equal Employment Opportunity, Title VII, and Religious Discrimination

Introduction

This essay explores the implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII with regard to religious discrimination, reasonable accommodations, and EEOC procedures. Such regulations can be difficult to administer and can backfire in lawsuits unless HR professionals understand the laws, the relevant regulations, and how to facilitate compliance. By properly doing so, embarrassing and expensive lawsuits can be avoided and EEO policies can be administered effectively and more satisfactorily for all concerned. In this way, diversity can become an important company asset rather than a financial liability.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is designed to protect U.S. employees from employment discrimination based upon the employee's (or applicant's) color, race, sex, religion, or national origin. It prohibits employers from discriminating in employment based upon these characteristics through a comprehensive set of regulations that require proactive anticipation, formulation, and administration of company anti-discrimination policies ("Compliance manual section," 2008, p. 4).

Title VII and Religious Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace. Key questions in any discussion of religious discrimination under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act include what constitutes harassment, what employers must do to accommodate an employee's religious observances, and what constitutes a hardship for an employer that would relieve this obligation to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs ("Compliance manual section," 2008, pp. 4–5).

The EEOC Compliance Manual provides specific guidance on what constitutes harassment in Section 12-III. Examples include unwelcome religious proselytizing, firing someone based upon their religious beliefs, or denying them scheduled time off for religious holidays (ibid., pp. 17–22). This prohibition also extends to contract employees working for the employer on-site. EEOC compliance is in place to provide real protection against such discrimination (ibid., p. 23).

The employer is given the right to refuse an accommodation if it constitutes an undue hardship, and the EEOC spells out what this means. For instance, an accommodation may conflict with the seniority system in place at the company, and the request may therefore be denied. However, this is not automatic; the employer should verify that no alternative can be provided before denying the request. In certain instances, an employer may also make an exception (ibid.). On the employee's part, it is consistent with best practices to inform the employer of their religious needs, potential scheduling conflicts, required accommodations, and what would constitute a violation of their religious observance. Employees should also refrain from proselytizing at work, as this is a central source of religious intolerance complaints in the workplace and violates most employers' standard operating procedures (ibid., p. 45).

Conclusion

As we have seen, religious discrimination is a complex issue. For employers to head off many of these problems, it is necessary to be proactive — anticipating employee needs, facilitating their reasonable religious observances, providing the information employees need to understand how to observe their beliefs within the workplace, maintaining consistent and transparent policies, and doing everything reasonably possible to accommodate employees. Where full accommodation is not possible, employers should facilitate and promote acceptable alternatives. To accomplish this, managers and supervisors must be trained to support EEO observance effectively.