Religious Accomodation in Employment Law

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I need some help understanding this law and how it affects my business.</p>

<p>I own a small retail store. We are open seven days a week, closing for major holidays. </p>

<p>I generally have 2-3 people working at any one time, more on the weekends, but Christmas Eve has always been considered “all hands on deck.” </p>

<p>I have, right now, 2FT and 4PT employees. I will have three college kids coming in to work the two weeks around Christmas. </p>

<p>EVERYONE works Christmas Eve – meaning as many as 9 or 10 people over the course of the day (6 am to 6 pm). This is the only time that we work ‘shifts’ with some people starting at 6 am, some at 9 am, some at noon … and generally working a 4-6 hour shift. Whoever comes in for early morning prep and cleaning would be able to leave by noon. Someone who gets a later start, will be in the shop until 2pm or 4pm and one person will stay with me until 5:30 or 6 pm. We do 6-8x our normal daily sales in that one day, with 4-5 times our normal customer count. To lose one person in the schedule is a hardship for all of us.</p>

<p>When I hire someone, it is mentioned that working on Christmas Eve required, not optional. I hire and staff very heavily in September and October in order to have these new staff up to speed for the December rush. </p>

<p>This year Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. At the close yesterday, we were talking about assignments for the 23rd and 24th. One of my new hires said she cannot possibly work Christmas Eve as it’s a Sunday and she has to go to church … all day. </p>

<p>Well I’m annoyed. All the training I am putting into this kid, and she’s going to jump ship on the busiest day of the year? A kid that’s asking for more hours all the time … but unwilling to work the hours I have for her? She knew about this rule in the first place, although she may not have comprehended that the 24th is a Sunday this year.</p>

<p>So – is it religious discrimination, or lack of religious accomodation, to fire her for being unwilling to put in 4 hours on that very busy day of the year? If she refused to work because she didn’t want to … she would be history. But she has played the religion card.</p>

<p>(If someone needed to go to church for choir, for example, and had to leave at 4 pm – we would accomodate that schedule. We also would accomodate someone whose grandmother was showing up for dinner in mid afternoon by scheduling them for an early shift. Ditto if there was a family breakfast, or early morning religious service, we’d ask them to work the afternoon and be the person to stay late with me.)</p>

2

<p>You need a lawyer.</p>

<p>I suspect that the kid may be justified.</p>

<p>Consider this: What if you had an Orthodox Jewish employee who strictly observes his religion’s Sabbath? Most years, he would probably be delighted to work as many hours as you could give him on Christmas Eve, which is not a special day for him after all. But every now and then, Christmas Eve would fall on his Sabbath, and he wouldn’t be able to show up at all.</p>

<p>I think the same thing applies to your current employee. It just seems weirder because so few Christians strictly observe their Sabbath.</p>

3

<p>If it said she had to work it you’re probably in the clear. My uncle is an Orthodox Jew doing surgery residency right now and he works on the Sabbath. He may not like it but he knew what he was getting into before he took the job.</p>

<p>But I’m not a lawyer, so what the hell do I know.</p>

4

<p>The answer to your question varies by State and depends on the facts of the case as applied to that law. Given the number of employees you mentioned, Federal law Title VII probably does not apply unless State law makes it applicable. The general rule under Title VII is that an employer is not required to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employers’ legitimate business interests. You might want to consult your State’s bar association to see if they have a legal referral program. Usually you can speak with a lawyer at a reduced or fixed rate.</p>

5

<p>I have to decide how big a deal to make out of this. </p>

<p>The issue is that the other employees will not be happy that someone is getting out of working on Christmas Eve. And it’s a hardship for my business that an employee that was hired and trained specifically to help with the Christmas rush won’t be there for the most important day – leaving us short of staff.</p>

<p>This girl is not particularly sophisticated when it comes to legalities and employment – she has not said anything about religious accomodation by employers. </p>

<p>It was after a very brief discussion of “Everyone is on the schedule for Christmas Eve” and “But I go to church on Sunday” that I started to think about the legalities of requiring her to work … and the legalities of firing her for NOT working a required day if she didn’t show so she could go to church.</p>

6

<p>Is there a middle ground? Church usually doesn’t begin at 6 AM, so perhaps you could discuss with her the possibility of working for at least part of that first shift and then going to church.</p>

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<p>I don’t think the issue is really Christmas eve. The issue is Sunday. If she normally works on Sunday then Christmas eve should be no different. The are Christmas Services that begin after the close of business. You should terminate her and hire someone who is willing to work that day before you have a full-scale mutiny on your hands. I do assume being that it is Sunday that you pay time and half or double-time. If not, you should consider some incentive.</p>

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<p>“My uncle is an Orthodox Jew doing surgery residency right now and he works on the Sabbath. He may not like it but he knew what he was getting into before he took the job.”</p>

<p>Orthodox Jewish religious law REQUIRES that one work on the Sabbath if it is to save lives. So I don’t think the analogy holds.</p>

9

<p>“I’m sorry, <employee name=”" here=“”>, that you don’t remember my telling you that we all work Christmas Eve. I need to replace you as soon as possible to cover Christmas Eve. We’ll miss you, but, as we talked about during the interview, I have to have someone to cover that day. Good luck."</employee></p>

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<p>It seems odd that she has to attend Church services all day on Sundays. Most faiths with which I’m familiar have services and/or Sunday school that may take up a maximum of 3 or 4 hours. Couldn’t you schedule around the services?</p>

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<p>I agree that she should be able to work part of the day. I don’t think she has to go to church from 6 AM to 6 PM. I don’t know of any churches that have services that long (guess it’s possible, but I’ve never h eard of it) Can she work from 6AM to 10 AM? If not, it seems she should be terminated. Most people don’t want to work on Christmas Eve, but she knew it was required when she took the job. Most churches have services on Christmas Eve, regardless of the day of the week, so it seems she would refuse to work on a Mond,Tues, etc</p>

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<p>To the OP - do you have ANY idea what religion this gal is?? There are some sects that actually do spend the whole sabbath in church - It may be a good idea to talk to her and inquire about her beliefs. If she belongs to a sect who practices the whole day - is there any way - since you say she offers to work more than is asked of her - to accomodate her in another way. Some times it is better to compromise than to loose a good employee - just MHO</p>

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<p>

Working on Christmas Eve is a condition of employment for this job. It seems to me (non-lawyer) that as a prospective employee, she agreed to the conditions of employment; if she was unable to meet one of them, it was her responsibility to inform you of this. Since she can no longer meet the conditions of employment, and there is time to re-staff before that day, I’d think WashDad’s proposed comments would be right on target.</p>

14

<p>Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) pretty much spend Sundays either with their families or with others of their faith. They do not work on Sundays.</p>

<p>I’m not familiar with any major Christian denomination that bans work on Sunday, but I think it’s safe to say that nearly all discourage it. In college, I worked at a store every Sunday and went to Sunday evening services. My pastor, in essence, said that he understood economic necessity.</p>

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<p>MOOMTMOM - I agree - if this is not a religious necessity - then that would certainly apply.</p>

16

<p>“is it religious discrimination, or lack of religious accomodation, to fire her for being unwilling to put in 4 hours on that very busy day of the year?”</p>

<p>I am a lawyer, and for that reason, I cannot offer you advice, but I can tell you that if you pay a local labor lawyer a small fee for 15 minutes of his/her telephone time, you will probably be glad that you did.</p>

17

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<p>Heh. I do a lot of business strategy, and end up being privy to a variety of things I’m not supposed to talk about. When I’m with cow orkers at lunch or other non-formal sessions (aka “work gossip”) I frequently start comments like yours with, “if I actually knew something about that I couldn’t talk about it, but since I’m not involved, what I heard was that Bob is pushing the XYZ acquisition…” Sometimes it’s more fun not to know the real answer.</p>

18

<p>I’m actually not sure what Christian denomination we are talking about. We haven’t gotten that far in our discussion. I am thinking Catholic – but I honestly don’t know. And I’m thinking that it might be that they leave town in the morning to go to services in a distant town and stay for social hour and return late in the afternoon. In which case it’s not a <em>religious</em> issue, it’s a <em>social</em> issue. </p>

<p>I get a lot more “I can’t work because I have a tanning appointment and a hair appointment, and a manicure before the homecoming dance”, than “I have a religious obligation”. (Not from her … from the other teens.)</p>

<p>I have offered her the 6-10 am shift, and I could settle for 6-9am if necessary. It’ll make the point with her and with the others. She’ll need a supervisor as she has not worked for me long enough to do that shift without a more experienced staffer. She’s new to the team, and still really a beginner.</p>

19

<p>“Orthodox Jewish religious law REQUIRES that one work on the Sabbath if it is to save lives. So I don’t think the analogy holds.”</p>

<p>Oh, well I’m in the secular half of the family so I wouldn’t know that :P.</p>

20

<p>Title VII only applies when there are 15 or more employees. Check
whether your state or municipal laws have a similar requirement.</p>