Religious Accommodations for Workers Vary Enormously

Whether it’s Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of ‘Izzat or the Coptic New Year — September’s upcoming religious observances may require employers to provide religious accommodations. 

Requested accommodations for religious observances around the year can range from time off and scheduling changes, to dedicated prayer rooms, to allowing changes in uniforms, to excusing workers from using preferred pronouns such as “they” rather than “he” or “she.” 

“We’ve also seen requests for religious exemptions from mandatory vaccination policies, particularly during the pandemic,” said Dawn Solowey, an attorney with Seyfarth in Boston. “In recent years, we have seen requests for exemption from diversity training, using co-workers’ pronouns, and participating in events such as Pride Month. And we have seen requests for religious exemptions from using AI in the workplace.” Many of these issues are being litigated.

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Federal Government Interest 

Religious accommodations have been a priority for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently. There have been many lawsuits over denied religious accommodations.

Under Title VII, employers must provide reasonable accommodations for employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs, practices, or observances unless doing so would impose an “undue hardship” on the conduct of the employer’s business.

So, what is an undue hardship? 

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the meaning of undue hardship when an employee requests a religious accommodation. The court held that an employer trying to show an undue hardship must demonstrate an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs or a substantial burden to overall business operations.

Some situations that might constitute an undue hardship, according to Jude Homich, assistant general counsel and human resources consultant at Engage PEO in Sarasota, Fla., include: 

• Operational disruption.
• Workplace health and safety risks.
• Impact on efficiency or productivity.

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 “Minor inconveniences, co-worker dissatisfaction, or speculative burdens are insufficient to establish undue hardship,” Homich said. 

Long Religious Observances

Some religious observances can last many days, Solowey noted. 

Is it an undue hardship to grant workers time off to meet their religious duties while other workers continue to staff the company? And should any such leave be paid?

“If the observance requires a significant number of days, the question will be whether it rises to the level of a substantial cost in light of the operation of that particular business,” Solowey said. “Generally, an employer can require that an employee use paid time off for such observances, as long as they are not treating religious requests less favorably than they do secular requests,” she said. “If the requested observance exceeds the available paid time off, then the employer should consider whether unpaid leave can be reasonably accommodated.”

The biggest religious accommodation challenges across North Carolina’s Triad are scheduling issues with employers that operate around the clock and Protestant Christian employees who need accommodation to attend church, according to Robin Shea, an attorney with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“In our part of the country, when a Baptist believes it would be a sin to perform any work on Sunday, employers genuinely fear opening the floodgates,” Shea said. “In retail in particular, Sundays may be the busiest days of the week.”

One employer in the state, Shea recalled, had operations nonstop and was asked to allow some Baptist employees to be off work on Sunday mornings so the workers could attend church services. 

“This was in a heavily Baptist area, and the plant manager was worried about setting a precedent that could affect almost the entire workforce,” Shea said. “We determined that, although the plant had a predominantly Baptist population, only a very small percentage of those employees actually cared about being accommodated on Sundays. So, the employer accommodated those who needed time off by letting them use their accrued paid time off.”

She said that Roman Catholic employees have not presented a significant accommodation issue because Masses are offered at multiple times each weekend and on holy days, making it easier for an employee to meet the Mass obligation without missing work. 

“Our region of the country has such a small minority of adherents to other faiths that accommodating their needs has not been especially difficult,” Shea said. “There is generally no opening-the-floodgates concern with adherents of these faiths.”

Religious Dress

Some employers might require female workers to wear short skirts at work, which could be objectionable to women whose religions require modest dress. 

“In the case of an employee who objects to a uniform dress on the grounds that it is too short and therefore not sufficiently modest, it may be reasonable to allow them to wear a longer version,” Solowey said. “But it will depend on the work setting. In some work environments, such as a manufacturing plant or warehouse, a long dress may create safety hazards, because it can be caught in machinery. The employer will have to consider whether there are creative solutions such as using clips to tie back excess fabric.”

Dana Wilkie is a freelance journalist in Ormond Beach, Fla.