Employer Religious Accomodations

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ‘ Scott Park is currently an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida. He recently served as a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice as a member of the Employment Discrimination Task Force. Mr. Park previously worked at the Environment and Natural Resources Division and as an Assistant United States Attorney for ten years in the Eastern and Central Districts of California, where he specialized in employment discrimination litigation and tried Title VII cases to juries. a

or-practice argument in single plaintiff cases are favorable to the defense. The use of time-barred acts as background evidence of discriminatory intent, however, is more problematic, and that issue must be kept in mind in preparing a case for summary judgment or trial. ˜

Religious Accommodations: An Overview David L. Smith Acting Assistant Director Equal Employment Opportunity Staff Executive Office for United States Attorneys Department of Justice I. Introduction Most federal employees are aware that

employers accommodate their employees' religious practices. Rather, it prohibited disparate treatment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, and religion. The duty to accommodate religious practices originated in regulations promulgated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In 1967 those regulations required an employer to accommodate an employee's or prospective employee's religious practices unless the employer could demonstrate that accommodation would result in "undue hardship on the conduct of the business." 29 C.F.R. §1605.1(b)(c) (1967). Current EEOC regulations maintain this same language. See 29 C.F.R. § 1605.2(b); see generally 29 C.F.R. §1605, Appendix A. In 1972 Congress followed the EEOC's lead by amending Title VII to include a provision requiring reasonable accommodation for religious practices. The accommodation provision was oddly incorporated into the definition of religion section (§ 701(j)). That section provides that the term "'religion' includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j).

employers are required under the Rehabilitation Act to accommodate, or attempt to accommodate, the legitimate workplace needs of disabled employees. Less well known is the duty under Title VII to accommodate, or attempt to accommodate, an employee's sincerely held religious practice that conflicts with a workplace rule. This article is designed to provide an overview of the basic issues that arise in religious accommodation cases under Title VII. As discussed below, it is easier for employees to meet the threshold issues in a religious accommodation case than in a disability accommodation case. However, an employer's resulting duty to accommodate religious practices is much lighter than the duty to accommodate disabled employees. II. The duty to accommodate religious practices When Title VII was originally passed in 1964, it contained no affirmative requirement that

UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS ' B ULLETIN

M AY 2004

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