The globe is becoming more and more interconnected. As a result, it is more important than ever for companies to get religious inclusion right in the workplace. With this growing religious variety comes the duty to protect workers from both intentionally and unintentionally discrimination. Continue reading to learn everything you need to learn about your workers’ rights to religious expression in the work.
Is it Legal for Employees to Pray in the Workplace?
Employees do, in fact, have the right to pray in the workplace. According the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from “refusing to accept an employee’s honestly held religious beliefs or practises.” Employers must not decide whether an employee possesses a religious belief for the “correct” reasons, according to the same provision.
There are some exceptions, such as if “the accommodation would impose an unreasonable hardship (more than a minor burden on the business’s functioning).” The EEOC has also decided that a person’s religious beliefs can be sincere even if:
It’s a new faith or belief system.
It is not consistently observed. It differs from the individual’s particular religious commonly followed tenets. Some typical religious traditions are followed by the employee, but others are not.
Accepting Prayer and Religious Expression in the Workplace: Best Practices
As a general rule, companies should inform their employees that they might make appropriate religious accommodation for all employees. Supervisors should be taught how to spot these requests from their employees. Other examples of best practices are:
Religious traditions can be accommodated through flexible scheduling. Substitutions or exchanges of shifts that are done voluntarily (e.g. if an employee cannot work during a religious holiday such as Yom Kippur) When reasonable accommodations cannot be made, job reassignments are made. Changes to workplace policies or procedures (e.g. wearing a beard or religious garb like a yarmulke or hijab) Prayer, proselytizing, and other kinds of religious expression are permitted.
Some employees may desire to exhibit religious icons or messages at their workstations, welcome coworkers with a religious expression, or pray or study religion throughout the workday, according to the EEOC. Employees can request accommodations in advance to engage in these religious expressions in certain of these cases, according to the EEOC. Employees should adopt the following best practises as well:
- If their religious demands collide with working rules, they should inform their managers.
- Give the employer enough information to understand what accommodations are required and how they relate to a religious practice, belief, or observance.
- If your communications aren’t welcomed, don’t proselytize to your employees.
Read more:
Individuals have the right to display their faith inside the work as long as they don’t annoy others or persuade others to misinterpret their private religious manifestations as the employer’s views,’ Grim expressed his thoughts. Employees can, for example, post a religious picture or store religious artefacts at their workstations, wear religious attire or jeweler, spend your long break in personal devotions like reading the Bible, create a voluntary prayer group, or chat to coworkers about their beliefs, according to him.
