Halunen & Associates

Faith is an integral part of many Americans’ lives. Since its founding as a country, America has taken great pride in its religious diversity and its ability to protect religious freedom via the First Amendment to the Constitution.

More recently, Congress has passed laws to protect employees from religion discrimination or faith discrimination while on the job. Religion discrimination does not have to be tolerated in the workplace. That’s why we’re here to help. If you’ve been the victim of discrimination based on your religious beliefs, religious practices, religious symbols, or any other form of faith discrimination, you may be entitled to legal recourse under the laws of our country.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment. Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.

Under Title VII:

• Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices – except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee’s religious beliefs or practices.
• Employees cannot be forced to participate — or not participate — in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
• Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs or practices by allowing: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.
• An employer is not required to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employers’ legitimate business interests. An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee’s religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees’ job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated employee’s share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
• Employers must permit employees to engage in religious expression, unless the religious expression would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Generally, an employer may not place more restrictions on religious expression than on other forms of expression that have a comparable effect on workplace efficiency.
• Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees. An employer can reduce the chance that employees will engage unlawful religious harassment by implementing an anti-harassment policy and having an effective procedure for reporting, investigating and correcting harassing conduct.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on religion or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

Contact a lawyer at Halunen & Associates if you feel you have been the victim of discrimination based on your religion or religious beliefs.

Please feel free to call our Minneapolis or Chicago offices, or fill out a contact form. The attorneys at Halunen & Associates would be happy to help you review your situation with a free initial consultation. Stand up for your right to religious freedom! We’re here to assist you in your pursuit of justice.

Above information provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. More information can be found at http://www.eeoc.gov/types/religion.html