Religious Harassment

Additional HR Resources First Line of Defense Avoiding religious discrimination and 11 other legal dangers for supervisors The Plus of "Us" DVD-based diversity training for employees and supervisors creates healthy workplace Religion at Work Religion at work: how to legally accommodate your diverse workforce Religious Harassment How HR can avoid religious harassment and discrimination claims A Guide to Diversity How to help create an organization that values diversity in its workforce Recognizing Discrimination Assessing your policies and practices, and adjusting them where necessary Dress Code Dangers When dress codes can incur a religious discrimination claim Advice for Supervisors Avoiding discrimination and other legal dos and don'ts for supervisors Employment Law in Your State Where your state lawmakers and fellow employers stand on this issue Federal Employment Law Advanced warning on upcoming federal regulations and legislation

When an employee is harassed because of his religious beliefs, it usually takes one of two forms: hostility or proselytizing. With either scenario, an employer must determine whether the employee is being harassed because of his “sincerely held religious belief.”

The question isn't whether the employee’s religion is legitimate or traditional but whether his belief is sincere. That's because courts have found that a vegan, for example, who opposes eating meat because he believes that life is sacred has a sincere religious belief and it would therefore be illegal to harass him for refusing to eat meat.

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Religious Harassment tools for Employment Law Letter subscribers
What's your HR IQ on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Laws prohibiting religious harassment

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits employers from discriminating against someone because of his religion when making decisions about hiring, firing, or other terms and conditions of employment. Title VII also prohibits employers from harassing employees because of their religious beliefs.

It’s broader than many other laws against discrimination because it isn't just limited to taking an adverse action against an employee based on prohibited criteria. To avoid claims of religious discrimination or harassment, employers also must reasonably accommodate an employee's sincerely held religious practices unless it would impose an undue hardship on your business.

Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all approach for dealing with real-life issues involving such accommodations. Instead, the reasonableness of a requested accommodation often depends on highly fact-specific questions that ultimately could wind up being second-guessed by a jury.

Two types of religious harassment in the workplace

In the first type of religious harassment, the employee is antagonized, ridiculed, and harassed because of his religious beliefs, either by coworkers or supervisors. There usually isn't any doubt that the conduct is intended to offend the employee. Again, the relevant question is whether the worker is being harassed because of his sincerely held religious belief. That's true even if the employee is an atheist or agnostic.

The second type of religious harassment arises when a coworker or supervisor “preaches” to an employee, and the employee perceives that behavior to be unwanted and offensive -- amounting to a hostile environment. The stakes can be higher when it's the supervisor who is preaching to a subordinate.

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Related articles on Religious Harassment in the Workplace featured in HR Hero Line

• Treat holidays with care to avoid religious discrimination, harassment
  (Rhode Island Employment Law Letter , November 2008)

HR Tools for Religious Harassment

• Sample Policy - Equal Employment
• Sample Policy - Harassment and/or Discrimination