I spent part of my childhood living in the Middle East, where my Dad was on assignment for a large oil company. It was a fascinating experience, and I got a crash course in Islam.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins tomorrow. Devout Muslims observe the month by fasting daily from sunrise to sunset. If you've ever fasted for a day, you know it's not easy. Now imagine doing that for more than half a day, every day for an entire month.
When my family lived in the Middle East, people's daily routines were different during the month of Ramadan. Stores were often closed during daylight hours and reopened late in the evening. Even people who held office jobs worked different hours so they could be at the office soon after sunrise--not long after they'd last eaten--and home in time to break their fast.
If you're Christian in the United States, you may not have given much thought to how people of other religions observe holidays. After all, many Christians in the United States take it for granted that they won't have to work on religious holidays. With the exception of some retail stores, most companies close entirely for Christian holidays, including Good Friday, Easter and Christmas. But what if you're Jewish and observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when work is forbidden? What if you're Muslim and want to pray five times daily, even though some of those prayer times fall during business hours? What if you are you are a Sikh man who wears a turban but works at a business that wants you to wear a baseball hat with the company logo on it?
It is against the law for your employer to treat you differently or to harass you because of your religious, moral and ethical beliefs. Your employer must respect your sincere and meaningful religious beliefs, and must make a reasonable effort to accommodate your religious practices unless they cause an undue hardship on the company.
Reasonable accommodation means that the employer should be able to make small adjustments in your work schedule, working conditions or work requirements that will allow you to continue working and still practice your religion. Examples of reasonable accommodation include:
- Allowing flexible work schedules and shifts
- Providing floating or optional holidays
- Permitting voluntary shift changes or work assignment substitutions
- Modifying workplace rules and regulations such as allowing employees to wear religious headdresses
If you need accommodation for a religious reason, you should give your employer sufficient advance notice so that some reasonable adjustment to your employment can be made. However, the employer does not have to accommodate your religious beliefs, if it can show an undue hardship.
Examples of undue hardship include:
- Your employer would have to force other employees, over their refusal, to switch to another work schedule to accommodate your religious practices
- Your employer would have to violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement in order to accommodate your religious practices
- Your employer would have to pay replacement workers at a higher or premium rate to accommodate your religious practices
Remedies for ViolationsIf your employer discriminates against you on the basis of your religion, you may be entitled to relief in the form of back pay, hiring, promotion, reinstatement, front pay, reasonable accommodation, or other forms of relief. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also allows you to recover your attorney's fees.
If you believe that you've been discriminated against on the basis of religion in your employment, an employment discrimination attorney can help you review your options.
Related Links:
