Religious Discrimination
Miami Emplyment Lawyers Protecting Your Workplace
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating
against individuals in hiring for firing decisions and other terms of
employment because of their religion. Title VII covers employers with
15 or more employees.
This means:
- Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably
because of their religious beliefs or practices
- Employers may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion
- Employers may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of
a certain religion
- Employers may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee
because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices
Your Religious Beliefs Are Protected
Employees cannot be forced to participate or not participate in a religious
activity as a condition of employment. Employers must reasonably accommodate
employees' held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue
hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any
adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice
his religion.
An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious
practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes
efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees' job rights or
benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated
employee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the
proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment
practices that discriminate based on religious belief (filing a discrimination
charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under
Title VII
). (Participation means taking part in an
employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims
that ultimately were found to be invalid).
If you have any questions about religious discrimination, call Remer &
Georges-Pierre PLLC for a
free consultation at 305.416.5000 or fill out our
online request form.