Religious Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal law which makes it illegal to discriminate or retaliate against or otherwise treat unfavorably, an employee or job applicant because of that persons religious beliefs. Title VII protects members of all religions both traditional and untraditional. Traditional organized religions may include Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Orthodox religions, Hinduism, and others.

In practicality, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will protect those that have a sincere religious belief.

Religious Discrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC) make it illegal to subject employees to negative consequences associated with reporting discrimination or harassment, or participating in an investigation regarding discrimination or harassment.

It would therefore be illegal to demote, fire, refuse to promote, harass or otherwise “Retaliate” against employees.

The Religious Discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC forbid Retaliation in any aspect of employment including pay, promotion, layoff, fringe benefits, training, job assignment, hiring, firing and any other condition of employment.

Religious Accomodation

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires an employer to accommodate an employee’s or job applicant’s religious beliefs unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the employer’s business. In order to establish Religious Discrimination, the employee must establish a bona fide religious belief that conflicts with the employee requirement, the employee must inform the employer of the sincerely held religious belief, the employee must show she was disciplined, the burden then shifts to the employer whereby he must then show that he attempted to accommodate the religious belief unless the accommodation posed undue hardship to the employer’s business.

Examples Of Religious Discrimination

Religious Discrimination may include offensive comments about an employee’s or job applicant’s religious practices or beliefs.

The person engaging in Religious Discrimination may be a manager, supervisor, or a co-worker.

The person engaging in Religious Discrimination may also be a customer or client of the employer. In essence, the harasser need not be employed by the employer.