The Law: Religion in the workplace

Religion is one of the most confusing areas in employment law and also one of the fastest growing areas of employee complaints and concerns.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, religious discrimination charges have increased 50 percent in the last 10 years.

A major reason for this is that many religions require various duties and practices, such as acknowledgment of different holidays, diet, attire, manners of wearing one’s hair and beard, and types of prayer -- any of which could lead to conflict with existing employment policies and coworkers’ beliefs.

For example, consider how a non-Christian employee feels when holiday parties are called Christmas parties, or when work schedules conflict with the employee’s own religious observances.

Finally, the COVID 19 pandemic and mandatory vaccinations required employers to consider reasonable accommodation request from employees with claimed sincerely held religious objections to such vaccinations.

Employers recognize it is essential to establish a work environment where differences are treated with respect and inclusion. Diversity, equity and inclusion training programs should include religious differences along with other areas of diversity.

What’s prohbitied

Iowa and federal law prohibits three forms of religious discrimination:

An employer, for example, cannot refuse to hire or promote members of a particular religion.

Conversely, requiring employees to attend monthly religious or prayer meetings as a condition of employment may also be unlawful. The courts and EEOC do make a limited exception for employers at expressly religious places of business. If a nonprofit organization’s purpose is, for example, to promote Roman Catholicism or atheism, it may hire based on its purposes.

In addition, several cities like Portland, Ore., and Madison, Wis., have ordinances that expressly protect the nonreligious, including atheists, agnostics and nonbelief in God or gods. In such cases, an employee could claim that he was harassed because he is an agnostic, or an employee could claim he was fired by his religiously devout supervisor because of his lack of faith.

Harassment

Finally, religious harassment is prohibited. Tolerating severe and repeated insults or threats will lead to bad outcomes.

In one case, a Missouri woman who converted to Islam said she was harassed for years at AT&T after she converted, with her coworkers making harassing comments about her religion, including being called a “towel head” and referring to her headscarf, or hijab, as “that thing on her head.” A jury awarded her nearly $5 million in punitive damages (which will be reduced under employment law that caps such damages).

Another jury in Arkansas ordered AT&T to pay $1.3 million to several former employees allegedly fired for attending a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention.

A simple disagreement over religious principles, however, likely will not constitute unlawful harassment.

Accommodations

Iowa employers also have a duty to reasonably accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs or practices of their employees unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on their business operations.

Employers should focus on whether the employee’s request is “reasonable.” Such accommodations rarely cost much but merely require good managerial planning. For example, providing Muslim employees with a flexible work schedule in order for them to pray at sundown, particularly during the Ramadan holiday, is likely reasonable.

What about head coverings, robes, long hair and beards and similar expressions of faith?

It depends on your business and whether personal appearance will unduly interfere with your business operations. A restaurant owner, for example, may require its cooks to wear hairnets or short hair to comply with health and safety requirements.

Employers should discuss religious accommodation issues with employees.

In one case, for example, a woman made a sacred vow to wear the photo of an aborted fetus around her neck to work every day. Other employees were uncomfortable with the image. The employer and employee discussed the issue, and the employee was permitted to wear the photo every day but was required to cover the photo while at work.

Many religions also try to recruit others to their faith, post religious messages in their workplace, or use religious language when communicating with others. The risk is that such employees may cross the line and inadvertently become a harasser of their coworkers.

As noted, the more persistent or severe an employee is about expressing religious views at work, the more likely you may face a harassment lawsuit.

The bottom line?

An employer must balance the religious-based expectations of its employees. Respectful treatment of employees’ religious beliefs (or lack of them) will avoid litigation and lead to better morale.

Wilford H. Stone is a lawyer with Lynch Dallas in Cedar Rapids. Comments: (319) 365-9101; [email protected]