Religion in the workplace

1. Challenge your thinking with some scenarios.
2. Possibly prevent problems from arising by clearly
addressing what the laws do and do not require.
3. Provide updated illustrative examples from the
case law.
4. Provide answers to frequently asked questions and
answers.
5. Present updated information on best practices.
6. Assist you in recognizing when to seek advice.

“In a recent survey, 20 percent of the workers
interviewed reported that they had either experienced
religious prejudice while at work or knew of a
coworker who had been subjected to some form of
discriminatory conduct.”
“Considering the United States contains a multitude of religions,
keeping religion out of the workplace is particularly difficult
considering people's vehement attachment to spiritual beliefs.
Recognizing this difficulty, many organizations, such as Taco Bell,
Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut, have insisted on welcoming religious
plurality by inviting priests, imams and other religious figures into
their workplace However, other companies have taken the
opposite approach in dealing with religious sensitivities by
keeping religious views out of the workplace.”
3Update on Religion in the Workplace© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

 “Taco Bells Pays $27,000 To
Settle Religious Discrimination
Lawsuit”
 “Lowe’s has agreed to pay
$120,000 to settle a religious
discrimination and retaliation
lawsuit over an employee who
claimed he was scheduled to
work on Sunday, against his
wishes.”
 Suhad Hasan, a former Old
Navy employee, sued the store's
parent company Gap Inc. last
month, saying she was treated
unfairly because she wears a
head scarf.

 Rob Skinner did not expect to find a chaplain in
the office when he started his sales job at
Piedmont Air Conditioning in Raleigh, North
Carolina. "I was a little worried because I didn't
want God shoved down my throat," says
Skinner, 38, a self-described liberal Christian.
 Turns out Dwayne Reece, from the nonprofit,
nondenominational Corporate Chaplains of
America -- which provides Christian chaplains
for companies that request them -- offered
encouraging words instead.
 Piedmont had hired him after the death of an
employee, and it worked out so well, he's been
visiting for nine years.

“It’s Friday. The office staff is gathered in the conference room for
an employee recognition lunch. There’s a choice of ham, roast
beef or salami and cheese sandwiches. There’s also a julienne
meat salad and soda. Most think the lunch is a nice gesture to
show the workers they’re appreciated. But there are a few who
feel left out. The Muslims aren’t there at all because the lunch is
held during one of their required prayer times. A Jewish worker
looks at the display of food and moves away from the table. Meat
together with cheese is not kosher. His colleague, a Hindu, cannot
eat meat at all. And a couple of Christians complain to one
another because the lunch is taking place during Lent. They,
therefore, cannot eat meat either. With the best intentions, a
gesture of appreciation has become a medium of exclusion.”
Example from Georgette Bennett, President, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding

9
 Wearing distinctive religious clothing or
jewelry such as yarmulkes, turbans, and head
scarves
 Engaging in religious discussions, group
prayers, or bible studies during work day
 Bringing religious articles or books into office
and discussing them with colleagues
 Asking for some time during the work day to
fulfill one’s religious obligations
Update on Religion in the Workplace© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

10
1. The employer has a duty to accommodate the
employee when he/she becomes aware of a
conflict between a work requirement and an
employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs.
2. The accommodation should eliminate the
conflict between employment requirements
and the employee’s actual religious beliefs or
practices, but must do so without causing
“undue hardship” to the employer’s business.
Update on Religion in the Workplace© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

 Requires more than ordinary administrative
costs.
 Diminishes the efficiency of other positions
 Overburdens co-workers.
 Impairs safety.
 Conflicts with other laws or policies, including a
collective bargaining agreement.

1. Employers should allow religious expression among
employees to the same extent that they allow other
types of personal expression that are not harassing or
disruptive.

2. Have a well-publicized and consistently applied
anti-harassment policy that:
A. Covers religious harassment,
B. Clearly explains what is prohibited,
C. Describes procedures for bringing harassment to
management’s attention; and,
D. Contains an assurance that complainants will be
protected against retaliation. The procedures should
include a complaint mechanism that includes multiple
avenues for complaint; prompt, thorough, and impartial
investigations; and prompt and appropriate corrective
action.

3. While supervisors are permitted to engage in certain
religious expression, they should avoid expression
that might – due to their supervisory authority –
reasonably be perceived by subordinates as coercive,
even when not so intended.

1. Individual religious observances must not disrupt normal
activities or impinge upon the rights of others
2. No one must suffer harassment because of one’s religious beliefs
or practices
3. Employees who are the recipients of unwelcome religious conduct
should inform the individual engaging in the conduct that they
wish it to stop. If the conduct does not stop, employees should
report it to their supervisor or other appropriate company official
in accordance with the procedures established in the company’s
anti-harassment policy.

4. Employees who do not wish to personally confront an individual
who is directing unwelcome religious or anti-religious conduct
towards them should report the conduct to their supervisor or
other appropriate company official in accordance with the
company’s anti-harassment policy.
5. Employees should advise their supervisors or managers of the
nature of the conflict between their religious needs and the work
rules.
6. Employees should provide enough information to enable the
employer to understand what accommodation is needed, and
why it is necessitated by a religious practice or belief.
7. Employees who seek to proselytize in the workplace should cease
doing so with respect to any individual who indicates that the
communications are unwelcome.

1. What is Disparate Treatment based on
religion?
2. What is Disparate Impact based on religion ?
3. What is Harassment based on religion?
4. What is a reasonable accommodation of
religion?
5. Under Title VII, does an employer have to
grant every request for accommodation of a
religious belief or practice?

Question 1. What is disparate treatment based on religion?
 Answer to Q#1: When a complainant alleges that the agency
treated another individual better than it treated him/her or
otherwise treated him/her differently because of that individual’s
religious beliefs.
Question 2: What is disparate impact based on religion?
 Answer to Q#2: The complainant alleges that an agency’s neutral
policy or practice adversely affects a protected class.

Question 3. What is harassment?
 Answer to Q#3: Harassment is unwelcome offensive conduct in
the workplace where:
1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of
continued employment, or
2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work
environment that a reasonable person would consider
intimidating, hostile, or abusive.

Question 4: What is reasonable accommodation of religion?
 Answer to Q#4:
1. Under Title VII, an agency has a duty of reasonable
accommodation for sincerely held religious beliefs and
practices unless to do so would cause an undue hardship.
2. As a general rule, the reasonable accommodation
requirement arises most often in cases where an individual is
seeking time off for religious observances.
Question 5: Under Title VII, does an employer have to grant every
request for accommodation of a religious belief or practice?
 Answer to Q#5: No. Title VII requires employers to
accommodate only those religious beliefs that are religious and
“sincerely held” and that can be accommodated without undue
hardship.

 Title VII defines “religion” to include “all aspects of
religious observance and practice as well as belief.”

Religion includes not only traditional,
organized religions such as Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and
Buddhism, but also religious beliefs that
are new, uncommon, not part of a formal
church or sect, only subscribed to by a
small number of people, or that seem
illogical or unreasonable to others.
Further, a person’s religious beliefs “need
not be confined in either source or
content to traditional or parochial
concepts of religion.”
22Update on Religion in the Workplace
© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

 Religious beliefs include theistic beliefs as well as non-
theistic “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and
wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of
traditional religious views.”
 Although courts generally resolve doubts about particular
beliefs in favor of finding that they are religious, beliefs are
not protected merely because they are strongly held.
Rather, religion typically concerns “ultimate ideas” about
“life, purpose, and death.”
 Social, political, or economic philosophies, as well as mere
personal preferences, are not “religious” beliefs protected
by Title VII.

 Are protected under Title VII of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
 Are protected under New
Jersey’s Law Against
Discrimination.
 An employer has certain
obligations to provide reasonable
accommodation of religious
beliefs under state and federal
laws.
 But employers do not have to
accommodate religious beliefs
where employees manifest those
beliefs by harassing others.

 A religious belief or practice need
not be based upon a traditional
religion and does not have to be a
belief held as tenet by others of
the same religion.
 The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission has
held that protected religious belief
also includes the freedom not to
believe.
 The only limitations on a belief
protected under Title VII are that
it must be religious as opposed to
social, political, or economic in
nature and it must be sincerely
held.

 Employees are protected in
the workplace in their right
to adhere to and practice
their religious beliefs, and
the employer can not
discriminate against them
on this basis unless to do so
would be undue hardship
on the employer.
 An Employer can not
question the acceptability
of an employee’s religion or
when the employee came
to believe.

 The prohibition on religious
discrimination is not
absolute, as an employer has
only the duty to reasonably
accommodate the employee’s
religious conflict unless to do
so would cause the employer
undue hardship.
 While an employer must
make a good faith effort to
reasonably accommodate
religious conflicts, if such
efforts fail the employer will
have discharged the
employer’s duties under Title
VII. 27Update on Religion in the Workplace© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines
"religion" to include moral or ethical beliefs about right and
wrong that are sincerely held with the strength of
traditional religious views.
 Religious discrimination also includes discrimination
against someone because s/he is an atheist.

An employee works at a location that
requires 24-7 coverage. The employee joins
the Seventh-Day Adventists. One of his
sincere religious beliefs is that he can’t work
between sundown Friday and sundown
Saturday, which is considered the Sabbath.
The employee is assigned to a weekend shift.
He informs his supervisor that he can no
longer work on weekends because he belongs
to the Seventh-Day Adventists and requests
that he be moved to a Monday – Friday shift.
The supervisor refuses to transfer him. The
shift reassignment is not an undue hardship.
The supervisor tells him that he will be
terminated if he can’t work the weekend
shift.
Is this in compliance with EEO laws?

 Violation based on the employee’s religion.
An employer must accommodate an
employee’s sincere religious beliefs as long
as the accommodation doesn’t represent an
undue hardship for the employer. The
supervisor should have allowed the
employee to have a shift assignment that
allowed him to work Monday through
Friday. Such an accommodation is required
even if the supervisor had to transfer an
employee already on a Monday through
Friday shift to the weekend shift.

 Amarjit Singh and Bhupinder Singh are Sikh men and
the turban that they wear is a religiously-mandated
article of clothing. Their supervisor tells them that the
turban makes coworkers uncomfortable and has asked
them to not wear their turbans at work.

“If a turban is religiously-mandated,
you should ask your employer for a
religious accommodation to wear it at
work. Your employer has a legal
obligation to grant your request if it
does not impose a burden, or an
‘undue hardship,’ under Title VII.
Claiming that your coworkers might
be ‘upset’ or ‘uncomfortable’ when
they see your turban is not an undue
hardship.”

You are the supervisor of a unit within a department
whose policy is to have its facilities used only for
business related purposes.
Several groups of employees in your unit have
informed you that they belong one of the five groups
below that hold one or more of the indicated sincerely
held beliefs, that they would like to use a conference
room at the department at noontime so they can
practice their religion during the workday, and if
permission is not granted then you, the supervisor ,
are discriminating against them on the basis of
religion.

1. The Church of the Great
Commission—Sincerely believe
in the Apostles Creed, that they
are “called upon” to be disciples
and make disciples throughout
the world, that they are indwelt
by “The Holy Sprit”, that they
should pray daily, read The
Word, and give of their time,
talents, and treasure.
2. The Church of James Brown
Always Above Ground—
Sincerely believe the best way to
keep James Brown’s memory
alive is to daily do several of his
dance routines first thing in the
morning and sing several of his
songs during the day. 36Update on Religion in the Workplace© 2017 Ronald W. Brown

3. The Church of Elvis Never Left
the Building—Sincerely believe
the best way to keep Elvis memory
alive is to sing several of his songs
during the day, visit Graceland,
and on his birthday wear blue
suede shoes and clothing.
4. The Wiccans---Sincerely believe in
the practice of magic, casting spells
through ritual practices, practicing
secret rituals, observing eight
seasonal festivals including on
October 31st, and the statement “an
it harm none, do what you will.”
5. Atheists Without Belief—Sincerely
have no belief in a god or gods.

A. You must grant permission to use a conference room at the
department to each of the five groups since they have sincerely
held beliefs.
B. You must grant permission to use a conference room at the
department only to employees who belong to the Church of
the Great Commission, because you feel that is a “real”
religion and the others are “illogical or incomprehensible”.
C. You can deny permission to use the conference room to the
employees who are Wiccans because you feel Wicca is not a
religion but a “conglomeration of various aspects of the occult
such as spell casting, and tarot card reading”.

D. You can deny permission to use the conference room to the
employees who belong to Atheists without Walls since
atheism is not a religion.
E. You do not have to grant permission to any of the groups to
use a conference room at lunch time.

A. The Supervisor must grant permission to use a conference
room at the company to each of the five groups since they
have sincerely held beliefs.

A. False. The employer’s policy is to restrict its facilities
for use only for business purposes. So long as the
employer employs that policy uniformly, there is no
discrimination based on religion.
For Business
Purposes
Only

B. You must grant permission to use a conference room at the
company only to employees who belong to the Church of
the Great Commission, because you the Supervisor feels
that is a “real” religion and the others are “illogical or
incomprehensible”.

B. False. You can not give differential treatment to the
beliefs of one group as a “real religion” and the beliefs of
another group as “illogical or incomprehensible”.

C. The Supervisor can deny permission to use the
conference room to the employees who are Wiccans
because you feel Wicca is not a religion but a
“conglomeration of various aspects of the occult such
as spell casting, and tarot card reading.”

C. False. The Supervisor can not give differential
treatment to the beliefs of one group as a “real
religion” and the beliefs of another group as
“illogical or incomprehensible”. Also in Dettmer v.
Landon (1986), even though the government argued
that Wicca was “a conglomeration of various aspects
of the occult such as spell casting, and tarot card
reading”, a federal court for the first time recognized
Wicca was a religion for purposes of the free exercise
clause in the First Amendment (but held it was not a
violation of the First amendment to deny Dettmer, a
Virginia prisoner, access to six ritual objects, varieties
of knife, with which to practice Wicca rituals).

D. The Supervisor can deny permission to use the
conference room to the employees who belong to
Atheists without Walls since atheism is not a religion.

D. False. Title VII covers beliefs and non-belief. It protects
theism as well as atheism. Remember religion, under
Title VII is “a sincere and meaningful belief which
occupies in the life of the possessor a place parallel to
that filled by god” (U.S. v. Seeger) and that
“religious” beliefs include theistic beliefs as well as
non-theistic “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is
right and wrong which are sincerely held with the
strength of traditional religious views.”

E. The Supervisor does not have to grant permission to
any of the groups to use a conference room at lunch
time.

E. True. So long as the employer’s policy and consistent
practice is to have its facilities used only for business
related purposes, the Supervisor does not have to
grant permission to use a conference room at the
company to any of the five groups, and there is no
discrimination on the basis of religion.

“Martha, Mary, Mark, and Ron are Believers, and on Ash
Wednesday we came back from lunch with ash crosses on
our foreheads. Our co-worker Marilyn, who says she’s a
Wiccan witch saw us, and said ‘You people look so stupid!
and I’m offended by those crosses! You can’t wear those in
the workplace. You have to go to the rest room and wash
those crosses off right now.”

Ron replied “We are not washing anything off, but we’ll pray for
you.” Marilyn then touched the pentagram necklace pendant she
always wears and said “If you do, you better believe I’ll put an evil
spell on you! "AVADA KEDAVRA!"” Ron told her she was not lord
Voldemort in a Harry Potter movie, she could keep her spells to
herself, that she acted and looked more like Megan, the demon
possessed child in “The Exorcist”, and she needed to schedule an
emergency exorcism to get her demons cast out!”
The employees all go to their supervisor to resolve this.

 “Unless it would be an undue hardship on the employer's operation of its business, an
employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices.
This applies not only to schedule changes or leave for religious observances, but also to
such things as dress or grooming practices that an employee has for religious reasons.
These might include, for example, wearing particular head coverings or other religious
dress (such as a Jewish yarmulke or a Muslim headscarf), or wearing certain hairstyles
or facial hair (such as Rastafarian dreadlocks or Sikh uncut hair and beard). It also
includes an employee's observance of a religious prohibition against wearing certain
garments (such as pants or miniskirts).
 When an employee or applicant needs a dress or grooming accommodation for religious
reasons, he should notify the employer that he needs such an accommodation for
religious reasons. If the employer reasonably needs more information, the employer and
the employee should engage in an interactive process to discuss the request. If it would
not pose an undue hardship, the employer must grant the accommodation.”

 Hickey, probationary employee,
and a Born Again Christian, wore a
lanyard like the one shown here,
around his neck. Attached to the
lanyard was a clear plastic badge
holder with a piece of paper with
the handwritten words “Jesus
Loves You!” and a drawing of a
cross.
 His supervisor told him he had to
remove the lanyard because “it
was not part of his uniform.”
 Hickey said he would do so only if
other employees were also
required to remove their religious
paraphernalia.

 Hickey said: “ You got to tell the Muslim woman she’s
got to take her scarf off, and the Hindu, with the turban,
and…the Jewish man with the yarmulke is going to
have to take off his yarmulke. It’s not fair that you want
me to take my lanyard off. I have the freedom of my
religion and freedom of speech.”

1. Treating applicants or
employees differently
(disparate treatment)
based on their religious
beliefs or practices – or
lack thereof – in any
aspect of employment,
including recruitment,
hiring, assignments,
discipline, promotion, and
benefits;
2. Subjecting employees to
harassment because of
their religious beliefs or
practices – or lack thereof
– or because of the
religious practices or
beliefs of people with
whom they associate (e.g.,
relatives, friends, etc.);

3. Denying a requested
reasonable accommodation
of an applicant’s or
employee’s sincerely held
religious beliefs or practices
– or lack thereof – if an
accommodation will not
impose an undue hardship
on the conduct of the
business; and,
4. Retaliating against an
applicant or employee who
has engaged in protected
activity, including
participation (e.g., filing an
EEO charge or testifying as a
witness in someone else’s
EEO matter), or opposition
relating to alleged religious
discrimination (e.g.,
complaining to HR
department about alleged
religious discrimination).

Religion includes not only traditional,
organized religions such as Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and
Buddhism, but also religious beliefs that
are new, uncommon, not part of a formal
church or sect, only subscribed to by a
small number of people, or that seem
illogical or unreasonable to others.
Further, a person’s religious beliefs
“need not be confined in either source or
content to traditional or parochial
concepts of religion.”

 Religious beliefs include theistic beliefs as well as non-theistic
“moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which
are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious
views.”
 Although courts generally resolve doubts about particular
beliefs in favor of finding that they are religious, beliefs are
not protected merely because they are strongly held. Rather,
religion typically concerns “ultimate ideas” about “life,
purpose, and death.”
 Social, political, or economic philosophies, as well as mere
personal preferences, are not “religious” beliefs protected by
Title VII.

 Are protected under Title
VII of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act
 Are protected under New
Jersey’s Law Against
Discrimination
 An employer has certain
obligations to provide
reasonable accommodation
of religious beliefs under
state and federal laws.
 But employers do not have
to accommodate religious
beliefs where employees
manifest those beliefs by
harassing others.

 The United States Supreme
Court's determined in Seeger
that religion need only be "(a)
sincere and meaningful belief
which occupies in the life of its
possessor a place parallel to that
filled by ... God [in other
religions]"
 Even those religious beliefs that
others may find
"incomprehensible or incorrect"
are protected under Title VII
 An employer may not judge the
veracity or reasonableness of the
religious beliefs of an employee

 A religious belief or practice need
not be based upon a traditional
religion and does not have to be a
belief held as tenet by others of the
same religion
 The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission has held
that protected religious belief also
includes the freedom not to believe
 The only limitations on a belief
protected under Title VII are that it
must be religious as opposed to
social, political, or economic in
nature and it must be sincerely held

 Employees are protected in
the workplace in their right
to adhere to and practice
their religious beliefs, and
the employer can not
discriminate against them
on this basis unless to do so
would be undue hardship
on the employer.
 An Employer can not
question the acceptability
of an employee’s religion or
when the employee came
to believe.

 The prohibition on religious
discrimination is not absolute,
as an employer has only the
duty to reasonably
accommodate the employee’s
religious conflict unless to do
so would cause the employer
undue hardship.
 While an employer must make
a good faith effort to
reasonably accommodate
religious conflicts, if such
efforts fail the employer will
have discharged the employer’s
duties under Title VII.

 John, who is a Christian Scientist, shares an office with Rick, a
Mormon. Rick repeatedly tells John that he is practicing a false
religion, and that he should study Mormon literature. Despite
John’s protestations that he is very happy with his religion and
has no desire to convert, Rick regularly leaves religious
pamphlets on John’s desk and tries to talk to him about
religion. After vainly asking Rick to stop the behavior, John
complains to their immediate supervisor, who dismisses John’s
complaint on the ground that Rick is a nice person who believes
that he is just being helpful.
 If the harassment continues, the employer is liable because it
knew, through the supervisor, about Rick’s harassing conduct
but failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action

 Eve is a secretary who displays a Bible on
her desk at work. Xavier, a secretary in
the same workplace, begins displaying a
Quran on his desk at work. Their
supervisor allows Eve to retain the Bible
but directs Xavier to put the Quran out of
view because, he states, co-workers “will
think you are making a political
statement, and with everything going on
in the world right now we don’t need that
around here.”
 This differential treatment of similarly
situated employees with respect to the
display of a religious item at work
constitutes disparate treatment based on
religion in violation of Title VII.

 Susan and Roger are members of the same church and are both employed at XYZ
Corporation. Susan works as an architect in a private office on an upper floor, where
she occasionally interacts with co-workers, but not with clients. Roger is a security
guard stationed at a desk in the front lobby of the XYZ building through which all
employees, clients, and other visitors must enter. At a recent service at Susan and
Roger’s church, the minister distributed posters with the message “Jesus Saves!” and
encouraged parishioners to display the posters at their workplaces in order to “spread
the word.” Susan and Roger each display the poster on the wall above their respective
work stations. XYZ orders both to remove the poster despite the fact that both
explained that they felt a religious obligation to display it, and despite the fact that there
have been no complaints from co-workers or clients.
 Susan and Roger file charges alleging denial of religious accommodation. The employer
will probably be unable to show that allowing Susan to display a religious message in
her personal workspace posed an undue hardship, because there was no evidence of any
disruption to the business or the workplace which resulted. By contrast, because Roger
sits at the lobby desk and the poster is the first thing that visitors see upon entering the
building, it would appear to represent XYZ’s views and would therefore likely be
shown to pose an undue hardship.

 Betty is a Mormon. During a disagreement regarding a joint
software development project, a co-worker, Julian, told Betty that
she didn’t know what she was talking about and that she should
go back to Salt Lake City.
 When Betty subsequently proposes a different approach to the
software development project, Julian tells her that her suggestions
are as “flaky” as he would expect from “her kind.”
 When Betty tries to resolve the conflict, Julian tells her that if she
is uncomfortable working with him, she can either ask to be
reassigned, or she can “just pray about it.”
 Over the next six months, Julian regularly makes negative
references to Betty’s religion.
 Julian’s persistent offensive remarks create a hostile environment.

“An employer must have a
legitimate business
justification for prohibiting
religious items in the
workplace.” “Mere concern
that the religious object is ‘too
religious’ generally will not
suffice.”
“An employer must show
that the religious object
violates an established
company policy and/or
intentionally disparages other
individuals.”

An employee who uses a
religious display as a means for
proselytizing could be in
violation of an employers non-
solicitation policy prohibiting
employees from soliciting other
individuals for personal causes
during working hours.
The key to effectively managing
religious expression in the
workplace is the “consistent
and uniform implementation
and enforcement of anti-
harassment and
antidiscrimination policies.

Defendant Costco, terminated Kimberly Cloutier
after she violated Costco's dress code by insisting on
wearing facial piercings while working as a cashier
and by refusing an accommodation (originally
suggested by Cloutier herself) that would have
allowed her to continue wearing her piercings in a
less noticeable manner.
Cloutier later argued that wearing a band-aid over
her facial piercing, or replacing her jewelry during
working hours with a clear plastic retainer, would
violate her personal religious convictions. Costco
asserted that allowing Cloutier to be exempted from
its neutral dress code policy would be an undue
hardship on its business in that an exemption would
undermine Costco's interest in presenting a
professional appearance to its customers. 72Update on Religion in the Workplace
Member of the
Church of Body
Modification

 Held:
 The accommodation offered by the
Costco, and ultimately rejected by
the Cloutier, was reasonable as a
matter of law, under Title VII and
state law.
 Costco's offered accommodation
reasonably respected Cloutier's
expressed religious beliefs while
protecting Costco's legitimate
interest in presenting a workforce
to its customers that is reasonably
professional in appearance.
 There was no evidence that the
dress policy was directed at any
religion.

Richard Peterson, in response to
Hewlett-Packard’s diversity posters
which addressed homosexuality,
posted anti-gay Biblical scriptures
in his cubicle.
When Peterson, “a devout
Christian,” refused to take down
the scriptures because he wanted to
condemn “gay behavior,” Hewlett-
Packard terminated Peterson’s
employment for violating the
company’s anti-harassment policy

EEOC v. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (#C04-1291)
 The lawsuit claims that Red Robin refused to offer an
employee any accommodation for his Kemetic religion,
an ancient Egyptian faith.
 As part of his practice, the employee went through a rite
where he received religious inscriptions as tattoos. The
inscriptions, less than a quarter-inch wide and encircling
his wrists, are a verse from an Egyptian scripture and are
written in a liturgical language. They symbolize his
dedication and servitude to his creator and his beliefs
make it a sin to intentionally conceal the religious
inscriptions.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers,
Inc., a casual dining chain with
restaurants throughout the
country, will pay $150,000 and
make substantial policy and
procedural changes to settle a
religious discrimination lawsuit
filed by the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the agency
announced today. The EEOC
had charged the company with
refusing to accommodate the
religious needs of an employee
and then illegally firing him.
Update on Religion in the Workplace 76

 More than 160 Muslims have
enlisted the federal government
in two discrimination lawsuits
against JBS Swift meatpacking
plants, where they allege blood
and bones were hurled at them,
bathroom walls were covered
with vile graffiti and company
supervisors disrupted their
efforts to worship during
Ramadan, ultimately firing
many Islamic employees.
The bathroom graffiti
included denigrating
references to Somalia, anti-
Muslim language and use of
the N-word.

 When he complained to a
supervisor, Farah said, he was
warned not to file a complaint
or he could lose his job. The
Greeley case alleges
supervisors also threw animal
parts at Muslim workers. In
addition, workers said that
they were harassed when they
tried to pray during scheduled
breaks and that their requests
to pray during bathroom
breaks were denied.

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