by Stan Griffin
Today workers are more openly bringing their religious identity to the job. "People look at religion ... now as more central to who they are ...", and they want people at work to be aware of it.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a government agency which protects men and women while they are working. Recently there has been a steady increase in religious discrimination complaints to the E. E. O. C. Such allegations jumped 20 percent last year, mainly due to claims of retaliation against Muslims after the terrorist attacks on September 11. However, the E. E. O. C. is finding people from a "broad range of (other) religions" coming to them more, an 85 percent increase since 1992.
Employers are facing new challenges: (1) They must encourage all employees to tolerate differences in religious ideas of co-workers. (2) They have to consider worker requests for adjustments in work schedules, dress codes, etc. (3) They must keep up with new legislation that says employers are required to make "reasonable accommodations" for workers’ religious beliefs.
A survey of personnel executives revealed the following: (1) 20 percent of them saw worker requests for religious accommodation increase since 1998. (2) 20 percent said they had seen in their companies instances of employees proselytizing (trying to recruit) co-workers. (3) 30 percent reported that there are more religions represented in their workforce than five years ago.
Here are a few typical instances of conflict between workers’ religions and their employment.
(1) Brinks Inc. in Bellevue, Illinois hired a woman to be a uniformed guard for an armored car crew. At the last minute, when she was ready to report for work. she was told that wearing of pants was mandatory. She was a Pentecostal Christian, and her church forbids women wearing men’s clothing. She offered to pay for an alternative garment of the same material, but the company rejected that idea and fired her. After a complaint to the E. E. O. C., Brinks re-hired her; but two years later she was "laid off" for economic reasons. Early this year, they agreed to pay $30,000 for her attorney’s fees. They also pledged to train all office managers in religious accommodation requests.
(2) Recently the E. E. O. C. sued Dillard’s department store for requiring a sales clerk to work Sundays at a store in St. Louis. They knew she was an ordained Baptist minister and needed to attend Sunday services.
(3) In a case of alleged harrassment, the E. E. O. C. filed suit on behalf of a former employee at a Philadelphia Victoria’s Secret store. It charged co-workers there mocked her Baptist beliefs, and supervisors often scheduled her to work Sundays after having agreed to keep such shifts to a minimum.
(4) Early in 2000, a librarian in Oxford, Ohio accused library officials of violating her religious rights by trying to force her to work on Sundays. She was a member of New Church, a Christian denomination following the Bible and teachings of theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg, and attended Sunday services in a Cincinnati suburban parish. She offered to change work days with other librarians so there would be adequate staff on duty Sundays, but the library insisted: "All ... staff must be part of the Sunday rotation." They went on to say " ...(You) should modify your lifestyle or you may determine that your position ... no longer fits your personal needs." She was disciplined and suspended three days with no pay. She filed suit for back pay and lost benefits. A restraining order was put in place to forbid the library from discharging her.