Reconciling religious beliefs with work

The Civil Rights Act was originally designed to try to avoid hate speech and to integrate people into the workplace, allow them to move up through the ranks just like everyone else, as opposed to protecting religious expression in the workplace, says Diana Scott, labor attorney for management law firm Greenberg Traurig. But with each passing generation, she adds, "people are more educated and more emboldened in the workplace when it comes to what their rights are."

The case of the driver with the beard is part of a lawsuit filed against United Parcel Service by the EEOC in March on behalf of a Rastafarian named Ronnis Mason who was not hired by UPS because of his beard.

"Mason wears his beard as part of his observance of Rastafarianism, a Jamaican-born religion with around one million adherents in the world," an EEOC statements details. "Mason explained to UPS that he could not shave his beard, and UPS told him that he could then only apply for an "inside," lower-paying position that would not have contact with the public."

In the suit, the EEOC alleges that UPS committed religious discrimination and maintains allowing Mason to keep his beard did not pose an undue hardship for the company.

Asking for prayer time at work is also one type of religious accommodation legal experts say is on the rise. In one particular case that is still ongoing, a group of Muslim workers at a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant were denied a request for time to pray at sunset.

“We think a 10-minute break is a reasonable accommodation,” says the attorney for the workers, Rima Kapitan, who works for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, because it would not disrupt the factory line.

A spokesman from Swift would not comment on the matter, other than to say they are engaged in “ongoing dialogue” regarding the issue.

Kapitan says she’s confident they’ll be able to find common ground.

In another case brought by the EEOC, a devout Christian employee at Sykes Enterprises refused to provide technical support to a customer that produced violent computer games because she deemed them “an abomination in the eyes of God.” The worker was fired for refusing to handle the account but the case was resolved with a settlement agreement to the tune of $80,000.

It’s unclear what long-term impact cases like these will have on the workplace.

Lori Lipman Brown, the director of the Secular Coalition for America, believes it’s a good idea to keep religion out of the workplace. "If someone applies for a job and the busiest time for the company is on the weekend but you have to take the Sabbath off, maybe you’ve applied for the wrong job," she says.

Yale’s Miller sees nothing wrong with corporations adopting "faith-friendly" policies. "They’re just recognizing the spirit of what people are," he notes.

But the increase of requests for religious accommodations, some experts say, may end up testing how strongly we stand by what’s becoming a thornier issue in the United States — the separation of church and state.

In the long run, predicts Steingard from St. Joseph’s University, the courts may ultimately decide, "You come to work to work and forget you have a religion."

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