Employment law attorney Justin Pierce tackles the tough question of whether an employer should allow an employee to hang a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” sign in his office.
Q Last year at Christmas, one of our employees, we’ll call him “Bob,” put up a small sign in his office that read “Happy Birthday, Jesus.” A non- Christian employee was recently heard saying that he was offended by the sign last year and that if Bob puts it up again this year, he’s going to file a complaint. We figured it’s better to find out now how to react to an anticipated complaint that may come as a result of the sign. If Bob puts the sign up again, should we tell him to take it down? If not, what do we do if another employee complains about the sign?
A You shouldn’t tell Bob to take the sign down if he puts it up again. Given the circumstances, I think that if you asked him to take it down, you could wind up defending a claim of failure to accommodate Bob’s religious beliefs. Now, as a footnote to that, you might have a technical defense that displaying a sign isn’t an accommodation that would be required for Bob to practice his religion. But given that we’re talking about a small sign in an office (as opposed to him bringing in an eight-foot Christmas tree and stringing blinking lights all across his office), I think it’s too risky to rely exclusively on that sort of a technical defense.
Additionally, assuming Bob’s display of the small sign would be considered something you need to accommodate, unless you could demonstrate that allowing the sign would create an undue hardship (which you almost certainly won’t be able to do), then you need to allow him to display the sign. If employees complain, you should just let them know that you are an equal opportunity employer that accommodates employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs and that you would do the same thing for them to allow them to practice their sincerely held religious beliefs.
In the end, religious accommodation questions can be somewhat tricky, which means you should get advice from your employment lawyer before taking action that involves a religious issue in the workplace. For public employers, there are even more issues because of potential First Amendment implications.
But even for private employers, circumstances may arise when you have to determine whether normal rules, such as dress or grooming codes or work schedules, can be adjusted to accommodate particular religious requirements. You also must weigh the rights of other employees to be free from unwanted religious communications and activity. That can be a real challenge in today’s work environment, given the increasing diversity and heightened sensitivity about various expressions of religious belief.
You might also be guilty of racism since the sign “Happy Birthday Jesus” might have been for his hispanic friend Jesus pronounced “hey-soose”.
Also ask the other employee why he was offended? What is so offensive?? Get over it!!