Question

Describe three examples of religious discrimination that might violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 1

Title VII of Civil Rights Act (1964) is a federal law which is against discrimination of employees at workplace. It prohibits employers from discriminating against their employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including federal, state and local governments. Title VII also applies to private and public colleges and universities, employment agencies, and labor organizations.

Examples:

(i) An employee cannot be forced to participate (or not participate) in a religious activity as a condition of employment.

(ii) 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 to schedule changes or leave for religious observances (for eg. leaving early on Fridays or allowing suitable lunch breaks for Muslim employees), 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).

(iii) The law requires an employer or other covered entity to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices, unless doing so would cause more than a minimal burden on the operations of the employer's business. This means an employer may be required to make reasonable adjustments to the work environment that will allow an employee to practice his or her religion.Examples of some common religious accommodations include flexible scheduling, voluntary shift substitutions or swaps, job reassignments, and modifications to workplace policies or practices.