Most U.S. employers are legally prohibited from discriminating in employment based on individuals’ religious beliefs. Unlike most other employment discrimination protections, this aspect of employment discrimination law further requires employers to accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs.

Applicable Laws

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Under Title VII, employers generally may not take adverse employment action against applicants or employees based on these characteristics. The law disallows both intentional and unintentional discrimination, but does not require affirmative action. However, it does compel employers to provide reasonable accommodations based on employees’ religious beliefs.

Title VII does not apply to religious organizations regarding the employment of individuals of a particular religion. Courts have limited this exception only to organizations whose “purpose and character are primarily religious.” Even where this exemption applies, it only affects hiring and firing decisions. Once a religious organization hires employees of different religions, they cannot discriminate against them regarding pay, benefits, and other similar conditions of employment.

Title VII only applies to employees with at least 15 employees. Many states have laws encompassing religious discrimination and accommodations that apply to smaller employers. For example, the New York State Human Rights Law applies to employees with as few as four employees.

This article focuses on Title VII’s religious accommodations requirements. Similar state laws often have comparable rules. But some will vary in ways that may be relevant to any particular situation.

Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs

Title VII defines religion to include “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.”

A religion does not have to be well-recognized or observed by many people to qualify an employee for Title VII protection. EEOC compliance guidance states that “religion” includes “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.” Religious beliefs can even include non-theistic beliefs.

No single rule determines whether an individual sincerely holds a religious belief. Some factors that might undermine asserted sincerity include whether the:

• employee has behaved markedly inconsistent with the professed belief;
• requested accommodation sought is a particularly desirable benefit that is likely to be sought for secular reasons;
• timing of the request is suspect; and
• employer otherwise has reason to believe the accommodation is not sought for religious reasons.

The requirement that a religious belief be “sincerely held” only applies regarding religious accommodations.

Religious Accommodations

Accommodations may include any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to comply with their religious beliefs. Requests often relate to work schedules, dress and grooming rules, or religious expression or practice while at work.

The employee must initiate a request for accommodation by notifying the employer of the need for adjustment of work conditions due to a conflict with their religious beliefs. The employee must also explain the religious belief to the employer. The employer may seek additional information. But it cannot go so far as to discriminate against the employee by overly burdening them based on the request.

As with requests for accommodations based on disabilities, employees are only entitled to “reasonable accommodations” that do not impose “undue hardship” on their employer.

To show undue hardship in this context, the employer must identify more than “de minimis” costs of providing the accommodation. The EEOC’s website suggests: “An accommodation may cause undue hardship if it is costly, compromises workplace safety, decreases workplace efficiency, infringes on the rights of other employees, or requires other employees to do more than their share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work.”

Both reasonableness and undue hardship are measured on a case-by-case basis.

Handling Religious Accommodation Requests

Employers (through their managers) must be conscientious upon receiving a request for a change in work conditions related to religious beliefs. Ideally, there should be a procedure in place for receiving and processing these requests. Any sign of hostility toward a request may alone risk a claim of harassment or discrimination, even if no accommodation is due.

At the same time, employers need not automatically grant every request by an employee tied to a religious belief. Some may be unreasonable. Others may not be premised on a sincerely held religious belief. Still others may create an undue hardship. But all requests should be handled carefully so these criteria can be considered and weighed properly.