Religious discrimination charges hit record levels

Managing workplace diversity can be very challenging. And as religion in the workplace continues to become much more diverse, accommodating all employee’s beliefs and rights not to believe has become more difficult for employers.

Managing religious diversity effectively and properly in today’s workplace reaches far beyond determining how to accommodate and be sensitive to each employee’s beliefs at the holiday party. Even though religion and the state are separate both constitutionally and politically, in the workplace, employers must respect and accommodate all types of beliefs, regardless of whether the organization is public or private.

But according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a record 2,800 charges of religious discrimination were filed in 2007, up 13 percent from the prior year (2006) and double the amount of religious discrimination complaints received in 1992.

I should note that in 2007 the EEOC also received more than 82,000 private-sector discrimination charge filings, the largest single year increase since the 1990s and the highest number of charges since 2002. Racial discrimination and gender discrimination charges rose significantly, and religious discrimination charges also increased, though they rounded out the bottom of the list of types of discrimination charges.

One reason the number of religious discrimination charges have increased is because of increased awareness of religion in the workplace in general, and recent world events such as 9/11 and other religious charged conflicts throughout the world. Because religious discrimination has increased, the EEOC has issued new guidelines on how to accommodate religious diversity in the workplace.

When it comes to religion in the workplace, the law is clear: Employers cannot treat applicants or employees differently because of their religious beliefs or practices, or lack thereof. This position affects all areas of the workplace, from recruiting to hiring to discipline to benefits. The law applies to all employers, public or private, who have at least 15 employees and states that not only can they not discriminate in employment based on race, color, religion sex and national origin, but they also are prohibited from retaliating against those who take part in an EEOC investigation.

The law is clear, but putting it into practice is more difficult than it seems. Employers are obligated to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and must act to prevent and prohibit religious discrimination and harassment. They also required to make reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious needs, including religious dress, grooming, and praying during working hours at the office.

By law, for an employer to deny a request for religious accommodation, an employer must demonstrate that the accommodation results in more than a minimal cost, either monetarily or operationally, to an employer’s business. They are required to assist religious employees with all reasonable requests, but they less obligated to leap major hurdles to accommodate a religious request than they would be for a employee with disabilities.

While the law is clear, as religious diversity increases in the US workplace, employers need to be well versed and up to date with all of the rules, regulations, laws, consequences, and penalties associated with religious accommodation. Only by learning and effectively putting these things in to practice can they hope to reduce the already too high number of workplace religious discrimination complaints.