Freedom of Religion in the Workplace

It is February, and the holy month of Ramadan is about to begin for Muslims. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam wherein a Muslim will fast from sunup to sundown. Yes, that includes not drinking water. And yes, there are exceptions, such as for those who are elderly, chronically ill, or pregnant. And in case you were curious, it moves up about two weeks every year because it follows the Islamic calendar, which is different than the Gregorian calendar that the international community uses.

The First Amendment guarantees the right to freedom of religion in the United States, meaning the government cannot persecute those in the United States for their religions, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides workers with protections against discrimination for their religion in the workplace. But what exactly are these protections?

Title VII protects employees against hateful language in the workplace regarding their religion, or differential treatment for their religion. It protects workers against employers who do not wish to hire them due to their religion, or who segregate people in the workplace based on religion. These are not exhaustive examples, but just common scenarios employment lawyers may see.

It also means that employers have a duty to reasonably accommodate a person’s religious beliefs. Indeed, Title VII requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” an employee or prospective employee’s religious observance, practice, or belief. By way of example, excusing a Muslim from meetings involving meals while fasting, or allowing them breaks and private space for prayers. Another example is not scheduling a Jewish employee for shifts during the Sabbath if that employee observes this practice. However, the duty to accommodate does not specifically require the religion be an organized or established one, or the belief be a widely recognized one. The law just requires the belief be “sincerely held.”

However, there are some limitations to an employer’s duty to accommodate religion. Employers are not expected to accommodate with respect to religion if it is able to demonstrate that doing so would impose an “undue hardship” in the conduct of its business.

Recent legal developments have deemed the “undue hardship” bar a higher burden for employers to meet than in the past. A unanimous United States Supreme Court in 2023 in Groff v. DeJoy overturned the previous “de minimis” showing that employers were understood to have to make out to qualify for this exemption. Instead, the Court held that Title VII requires that for an employer to satisfy this “undue hardship” standard, they must instead demonstrate than an accommodation would result in “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of the particular business.” Groff v. DeJoy, 600 US ____, 18 (2023).

Therefore, employers must meet a more intensive threshold than they did prior to 2023 to deny a person’s religious accommodation request. Of course, this is a different analysis altogether than a reasonable accommodation related to disability, which our website has many other blogs about.

Do you believe you’ve been discriminated against for your religion, or is your employer refusing to accommodate your sincerely held religious belief? Contact me in Dallas or one of my talented colleagues in Houston or Austin today.