If you are part of a religious faith or practice, you may have found yourself facing a discriminatory situation in your place of employment. Workplace religious discrimination can reach a point that performing your basic job duties are impossible. Workplace religious discrimination can reach a point that it creates a hostile work environment. If you believe that you are in this position at your job, your important legal rights. You need to schedule a consultation with an experienced California workplace religious discrimination lawyer at (800) 337-7436.
Definition of Workplace Religious Discrimination
Legally speaking, employment religious discrimination or workplace religious discrimination is defined as treating someone differently because of that individual’s particular religion or religious beliefs, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC. Workplace religious discrimination also occurs in the job application process. In either instance, employment religious discrimination is illegal.
Examples of Workplace Religious Discrimination
As mentioned a moment ago, federal and California law prohibits religious discrimination in all aspects of employment. Laws forbid discriminating against an employee based on religion. It is also illegal to discriminate against a job applicant based on religion as well.
Examples of when workplace religious discrimination can occur include:
- Wages and salary
- Fringe benefits
- Promotions
- Layoffs
- Job assignments
- Training
- Any other condition of employment
Reasonable Religious Accommodation, Your Rights, and a California Religious Discrimination Lawyer
One area in which an employer can run afoul of the law is in regard to making a reasonable accommodation of an employee’s religious beliefs or practices. Federal and California law requires reasonable workplace accommodation for a worker’s religious beliefs and practices. The only exception is if undue hardship on an employer resulted from a proposed accommodation.
Reasonable accommodation extends to an employee’s dress and grooming practices. For example, a Jewish employee might wear a yarmulke while a Muslim worker might wear a headscarf.
An employer who fails to make reasonable workplace religious accommodations can run afoul of federal and California law. A worker not granted reasonable workplace religious accommodations may have a claim for workplace religious discrimination.
Forced Participation in Workplace Religious Activities
While sometimes people are surprised to that this occurs in the 21st century, the stark reality is that there are instances in which employees are forced to participate in what legally constitutes as being workplace religious activities. Sometimes this comes in the form of an order to participate in some type of religious activity in the workplace (like be subjected to the intonation of a religious prayer during the workday).
In other instances, the pressure to participate is less direct. For example, a business may have something like an Easter celebration, with attendant Christian attributes, during the course of a workday. Employees might not be ordered to attend. However, they may be “strongly encouraged” to participate and benefits might accrue to those workers who to attend such an activity.
The issue may be direct or coerced participation. If you have experienced these situations, consult a workplace religious discrimination attorney at (800) 337-7436. We offer a no-cost case evaluation for you.
Religious Beliefs and Workplace Segregation: Protect Your Rights with a California Religious Discrimination Lawyer
Another form of workplace religious discrimination is the segregation of workers because of their religious beliefs. The most commonplace form of this type of unlawful discrimination is that associated with workers who wear certain clothing or accessories as a result of their faith or who engage in certain types of grooming practice because of their religion.
For example, a woman who wears a hijab or a man who has beard may fall into such a classification. Workplace segregation demonstrates employment religious discrimination. A common way this occurs is when a business will not permit a person wearing certain clothing or having specific grooming practices to interact with customers or client. They are segregated to another area within the business. If that segregation is based on one or another religious practice, that action typically does amount to workplace religious discrimination.
Workplace Religious Discrimination and Harassment
Yet another form of workplace religious discrimination comes in the form of harassment. Simply put, harassment exists because of an employee’s religion. Workplace religious harassment can take a variety of forms including jokes, threats, and other inappropriate verbal remarks. These are direct comments. Remarks made to others also quality.
A number of different types of individuals associated with a particular business may be the perpetrators of workplace religious harassment. These include:
- Coworkers
- Supervisors
- Clients or customers
Legal Duty of Business to Protect Against Workplace Religious Discrimination
Of course, the owners or top people in a business do cause workplace religious discrimination in some cases. With that said, religious discrimination oftentimes is caused by individuals below the level of top management and owners. When that is the case, those who own or are executives in a business have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to stop religious discrimination in the first instance and to curtail it when it comes occur.
Report workplace religious discrimination. Once a business is on notice of this type of discrimination, the company has a legal duty to act.
A business can still be responsible for workplace religious discrimination without actual knowledge. A business is responsible for workplace religious discrimination even if has no actual knowledge if that business should reasonably have been aware of the situation.
Employment Religious Discrimination and Wages, Benefits, and Advancement
Workplace business discrimination has the potential to negatively impact a worker’s wages, benefits, and opportunity for advancement. These all represent the types of injuries sustained by a victim of workplace religious discrimination. In addition, in some cases a victim of workplace religious discrimination might be able to claim mental anguish and emotional distress.
California Religious Discrimination Lawyer and Your Legal Rights
If you believe that you are the victim of religious discrimination in the workplace or in some other setting, the legal team at the Law Offices of Labor Attorneys is here for you. You can reach a California religious discrimination lawyer at your convenience by calling our firm at (800) 337-7436.
We will schedule an initial consultation and case evaluation with a California religious discrimination attorney to discuss your claim and explain your rights. There is no charge for an initial consultation with a California religious discrimination lawyer. Moreover, the Law Offices of Labor Attorneys never charge an attorney fee unless we win your case for you.
