EEOC Guideline: Religious Discrimination

(This is a modified and excerpted version of the EEOC guidelines publication).

It is unlawful for an employer to fail to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless the employer demonstrates that accommodation would result in undue hardship on the conduct of its business.

These principles also apply to labor organizations, employment agencies or joint labor-management committees controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining.

After an employee or prospective employee notifies the employer or labor organization of his or her need for a religious accommodation, the employer or labor organization has an obligation to reasonably accommodate the individual's religious practices. A refusal to accommodate is justified only when an employer or labor organization can demonstrate that an undue hardship would result from each available alternative method of accommodation. A mere assumption that many more people, with the same religious practices as the person being accommodated, may also need accommodation is not evidence of undue hardship.

When there is more than one method of accommodation available which would not cause undue hardship, the Commission will determine whether the accommodation offered is reasonable by examining:

i. The alternatives for accommodation considered, and

ii. The alternatives for accommodation actually offered to the individual.

Some alternatives for accommodating religious practices might disadvantage the individual with respect to his or her employment opportunities, such as compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. Therefore, when there is more than one means of accommodation which would not cause undue hardship, the employer or labor organization must offer the alternative which least disadvantages the individual with respect to his or her employment opportunities.

Copyright 1996 David Trieloff, Esq.

Mr. Trieloff passed away on April 16th, 1998 and is sadly missed by the staff of the Business Know-How where he was a member of the volunteer staff.