Tag: Religious Discrimination

Supreme Court Ruling Requires More Rigor from Employers for Employee Requests for Religious Accommodations

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to accommodate their employees’ religious practices so long as doing so wouldn’t impose an undue hardship on the employers.  Title VII Title VII, as amended, protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.  Whom Does […]

SCOTUS Subtly Redefines the Landscape of Workplace Religious Accommodations

Since 1977, employers evaluating whether an employee’s religious accommodation request would cause undue hardship on their business had a low burden to meet. A denial of a religious accommodation could likely be justified if the proposed accommodation involved more than de minimis cost or inconvenience to the employer. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court changed that […]

Religious Accommodation: SCOTUS Approaching Decision on Title VII ‘Undue Hardship’ Standard

On April 18, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving a former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) worker who was denied a religious accommodation to observe his sabbath. The broad implications of a decision that favors the former worker could change the analysis for employers when assessing employee requests for religious […]

Religious Discrimination: New Employer Obligations on Their Way

The title is a prediction, not a done deal. But no later than June 2023, I believe the U.S. Supreme Court will jettison a 46-year-old case that neutered an employer’s obligation to reasonably accommodate all aspects of an employee’s religious observance or practice. And what will the vote be? 9-0. Read on. How Did We […]

Case Study: Fired Employee with Bad Attitude Fails on Religious Discrimination Claim

A car salesman who was terminated following customer complaints of a bad attitude cannot get to a jury on his religious discrimination claim according to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Oklahoma employers). The appeals court affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment (dismissal without a trial) in […]

3 Steps to Make Workplace Religious Accommodations for Islamic Prayer

Few issues are more sensitive for employers than accommodating employees’ religious practices and observances. In recent years, Muslim employees and their employers have struggled with how to handle the religious requirement to perform obligatory prayers while at work. Here are some suggestions.

When Is a Discrimination Complaint against a Manager an Act of Harassment?

What if a manager accused of unlawful discrimination based on employees’ religion asserts that the complaint itself is an act of harassment? You owe duties all around, and you may not be able to perform one duty without risking a violation of the other. See how one employer successfully avoided that minefield.

solar eclipse

Will the Solar Eclipse Disrupt Your Workplace?

On Monday August 21, 2017, in the middle of the workday, millions of people will abandon their jobs to gaze up at the skies and experience what might well be a once-in-a-lifetime event: a total eclipse of the sun. For those on the ground along an approximately 70-mile-wide path from Oregon to North Carolina, the […]

Walking the workplace proselytizing tightrope

by David L. Johnson “Have a blessed day.” “I’m praying for you.” “Are you a believer?” “Would you be interested in attending church with me?” Comments and questions like those may be common in your workplace. On the one hand, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars employers from discriminating against employees […]

Pizza discrimination?! Customer sues Florida Domino’s for employees’ alleged bias

by G. Thomas Harper A pregnant Moroccan Muslim woman has sued a Domino’s Pizza franchisee in Davenport over the quality of pizza and treatment she received from employees of the restaurant. The customer brought suit in state court in Polk County against the franchisee, Michael P. Jarvis, both as an individual and as the owner […]