“As an employer, you strive to maintain a certain image for the benefit of your small business, while simultaneously accommodating employees in order to promote company morale. But what do you do when an employee’s religious practices conflict with workplace policies? Here’s what you need to know about your legal responsibilities and how you can keep your workplace safe, efficient, and accommodating.
Employee Rights
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq protects employees from discrimination in the workplace based on sincerely held religious beliefs. Briefly, Title VII prohibits:
- Unfair treatment based on religion when it comes to hiring, training, benefits, promotions, and other aspects of employment;
- The denial of accommodation for “sincerely held” religious practices, unless those practices would result in “undue hardship” for the employer;
- Job segregation due to religion;
- Harassment as a result of religious beliefs;
- Retaliation toward the employee for requesting specific accommodations or for filing a discrimination charge.
So where does religious dress and grooming fit into Title VII? Basically, the law states that exceptions must be made for particular religious dress in workplace policies regarding appearance and grooming requirements, as long as it does not cause safety or legal concerns.
Employer Responsibilities
It all sounds good on paper, but how do you provide real solutions to religious practices in your day-to-day work life? Here are some ideas to help you provide an accommodating atmosphere for every individual in your company:
- Ask questions early. Not being aware of the religious requirements of an employee can lead to a discrimination lawsuit. Under Title VII, it’s acceptable to ask employees enough questions to determine whether exceptions will need to be made to company policies due to religion. But, be careful how you ask those questions.
- Seek compromise. Find out if there is a way for an employee to abide by their religious requirements while adhering to company policy. For example, if your employee must wear his hair long due to religion, but he works around food, ask if he is able to pull his hair back in order to stay within food safety regulations.
- Make an exception when necessary. If there is no possible compromise and the religious requirement won’t cause undue hardship for your business, then you must accommodate the employee. This sometimes means making an exception to company policy.”
Originally posted by The Huffington Post. Full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-jacoby/religious-dress-grooming-_b_7205904.html
