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Religious accommdation
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Religious accommdation
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Recently we faced a situation where two of our hourly workers told their boss if scheduled Sun day work they would not show up, because they adhere to the b iblical i nterpretation that no work gets
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Religious accommdation
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Religious accommdation
posted at 8/11/2012 4:21 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 7
First: 12/8/2011 Last: 12/9/2012 |
Recently we faced a situation where two of our hourly workers told their boss if scheduled Sunday work they would not show up, because they adhere to the biblical interpretation that no work gets performed on the Sabbath. We worked around the issue this time, but it will come up again in the future and I want to handle it legally. The two main criteria that must be evaluated, per my research, is 1. whether the employee holds a "sincerely-held belief" in the reason for their requested accommodation (in this case not being scheduled on a Sunday because it's a day of rest), and 2. whether the granting of the request would impose an undue hardship on the employer. We are a 300 person mfg plant and there are numerous ees who are in the same job descr. as the two employees in question, though most have differing expertises and are not necessarily interchangeable. I contend that all evidence points to their beliefs as being genuine, and the law requires an expansive interpretation of that, anyway, and also that we would be hard pressed justifying undue hardship, given the number of employees in the same clasification. Our corp office contends that the language on our application which states that, if hired, employees must agree to be able to work any shift, and that that would be the guiding principle, that by accepting that, they give up their rights to refuse to work on Sunday. So the ee would have to work or be gigged under the attendance policy. I contend that such language in an application does not and cannot negate a person's religious accommodation rights under Title VII. Anybody want to weigh in on this? |
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Re: Religious accommdation
posted at 8/12/2012 3:46 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 222
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 5/15/2013 |
It looks like you've done a solid level of research on this. Respecting an employee's Sabbath is fairly absolute unless, as you note, doing so would cause an undue hardship. I think your corporate office is being very unreasonable here. The accomodation requested is reasonable, won't incur an undue hardship and denying it may well result in an EEOC complaint. I would also suggest that relying on a statement in the employment application could be self destructive. Your corporate office is, in essence, admitting that this statement is being used to discriminate on the basis of religion in the hiring process. If the corporate office's response is in writing and that gets to the EEOC, I'm thinking it's a slam dunk "you lose" for the corporate office.
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Re: Religious accommdation
posted at 8/12/2012 9:23 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 7
First: 12/8/2011 Last: 12/9/2012 |
In Response to Re: Religious accommdation: It looks like you've done a solid level of research on this. Respecting an employee's Sabbath is fairly absolute unless, as you note, doing so would cause an undue hardship. I think your corporate office is being very unreasonable here. The accomodation requested is reasonable, won't incur an undue hardship and denying it may well result in an EEOC complaint. I would also suggest that relying on a statement in the employment application could be self destructive. Your corporate office is, in essence, admitting that this statement is being used to discriminate on the basis of religion in the hiring process. If the corporate office's response is in writing and that gets to the EEOC, I'm thinking it's a slam dunk "you lose" for the corporate office. Posted by nork4 |
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Re: Religious accommdation
posted at 8/12/2012 9:26 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 7
First: 12/8/2011 Last: 12/9/2012 |
In Response to Re: Religious accommdation: In Response to Re: Religious accommdation : Posted by pmast7 Thanks for the vote of confidence. I agree with you...i'm right! |
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Re: Religious accommdation
posted at 8/13/2012 4:50 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 215
First: 9/20/2011 Last: 5/14/2013 |
In Response to Re: Religious accommdation: In Response to Re: Religious accommdation : Thanks for the vote of confidence. I agree with you...i'm right! Posted by pmast7 I am generally in agreement with the conclusions above regarding the risks of denial, but......... I am always a bit suspicious regarding this type of accomodation request. My suspicion occurs when two folks reporting to the same supervisor come up with the same request. Again I'm not saying this is bogus but the concept of "doing no work" and having "sincerely held beliefs" is a fairly high standard. If I could afford it, I would have a PI check out how they spend their Sundays. Do they go to Church on Sunday? Do they do any visable work? Painting, cleaning, washing cars, garden work etc. If they can do that they could also work couldn't they? I'm not a lawyer and do not know what would be defined as personal "work" activities but I wouldn't expect them out playing golf either on this religious day if they are as religious as they claim, would you? Just sayin'............ and I like to stir the pot a bit as many of you know. |
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Re: Religious accommdation
posted at 8/13/2012 7:46 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 222
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 5/15/2013 |
Howard: I'd tend to agree with you but for the OP's statement that all the evidence points to the employees' beliefs as being sincerely held. If that's the case, then I would submit that a reasonable accomodation would be in order and there would not be a need in this case to go to the rather extreme length of hiring a PI. Carl
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