possible religious discrimination?

aliciac

I had an employee come to me today because he had recently asked his supervisor and manager if he could adjust his schedule to get Sundays off because he is very active in the church. The standard schedule for this employee rotates giving him no standard days off. The way the schedule works is everyone ends up with one weekend off every month.
When he requested to have Sundays off he was told that he would have to switch to a part time schedule (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) because that was all that was available. The problem is that there are plenty of people in the company who have been granted 'special' schedules, although not any people with this employees specific job title. The job is manual labor loading materials for customers, and there isn't really any reason they couldn't accomodate a Mon-Fri or Tues-Sat schedule. I think they just didn't want to do it because then they'd have to do it for others. The employee was very specific with his reason for wanting Sundays off, and everyone who knows this person knows that he is very religious and attends church more than once a week. I am worried that cutting his hours in half when he specifically said he wanted the day off for religious reasons is going to get us into trouble.

Any thoughts?

deniseE

Although this kind of accomodation is not unheard of and perfectly allowable...IF you really wanted to get around it, you could say that he didn't request this when he started....

But as you've said...other accomodations have been made in the past...you need to decide if it's worth the trouble of NOT accomodating.

aliciac

Oh, I personally think that we should accomodate him. I was looking for possible legal citations anyone could offer to help me in taking this to the store manager and the employees direct supervisor.
He didn't request it when he started, and he acknowledges that he probably should have. I don't think he'll take legal action against us, he would just prefer to not seek employment elsewhere to make up for the lost hours.

ray a

Check out this DOL site:

[url]http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_41/Part_60-50/41CFR60-50.3.htm[/url]

aliciac

Thank you for that! I am wondering if that technically applies though. We did make the accomodation for him to take Sundays off, but we also cut his hours in half to do so. I didn't see anything in the section you provided for me that said an employer should attempt to keep the employee at the same status level (full time) while making those accomodations. It seems like common sense that an employer would do that, but are they required to?

LarryC

aliciac, cutting his hours can easily be seen as an adverse employment action. This, along with other excellent advice offered here, I would say is a compelling case to accommodate.

aliciac

Thanks. I'll go to his manager this afternoon to talk about making the accommodation.

ray a

Employers are required to make reasonable religious accommodations unless it creates undue hardship on the business. Also, if more people with the same practices may also make the same request is not considered evidence of undue hardship.

You've stated that you believe the accommodation can be made. You also say that the same accommodation has been made for others in the past, though different job titles. Sounds to me like you could have a problem if you don't seriously consider his request.

zen

"IF you really wanted to get around it, you could say that he didn't request this when he started...."

Don't even think about using this to get around it. Employees who convert to a religion or become more fervent in their religious beliefs are not penalized because they didn't declare their faith prior to starting work with an employer or even if that faith has waned following termination with that employer.

See EEOC v. IBP, Inc., 824 F. Supp.147 (C.D.III.1993)

deniseE

Thank you Zen.....I knew that there was no good reason to deny this.....but the poster seemed to be looking for a loop-hole....

This case is a good reason to grant the request..and it's clear..which should help with reluctant management.

I would also be concerned about retaliation claims...if you cut his hours to give him Sundays off, but didn't cut others hours for similar requests...this guy might not make an issue, the next person might not roll over so gently.

aliciac

"but the poster seemed to be looking for a loop-hole...."

Sorry that anyone misunderstood me. I'm looking for something concrete to bring to the manager of this employee. I'm on the employees side and I think he SHOULD be accommodated, but I'm not going to go into the managers office guns blazing with nothing to back me up.

WT

We also have 7 day a week schedules and have faced issues of employees wanting time off. You cannot look at just one person but must consider the rest of the work force. If you are working seven days a week, then everybody likes weekends off because the most of the world does things on weekends. Events, games, children's sports, spouse's days off and other things come on weekends. You cannot give everyone a Saturday or Sunday off each week and still keep staffed. Your staff will become resentful at having to work weekends for one person. Having said that, in this case I would consider having the person work Tuesday through Saturday. That would mean the employee would work every Saturday and thus, another employee could have Saturday off. This is a fair trade for everybody. The religious person gets to worship on Sunday so others must work his Sunday for him. In turn, he is working their Saturday for them so they can have a weekend day off.

aliciac

Ok, so now it's turned into something different. The employee didn't give me all the details, so I'll be talking with him again tomorrow. He isn't specifically wanting Sundays off in order to attend church, he wants to become a pastor and needs to have a certain amount of hours in. So now this isn't a religious rights issue anymore is it? Seems to me that would be the same as another employee requesting some day of the week off because they were going to some job training or school or something.

Whatever

He
>isn't specifically wanting Sundays off in order
>to attend church, he wants to become a pastor
>and needs to have a certain amount of hours in.

Since most religious leaders perform multi-functions, what exactly do you mean by certain amount of hours in (i.e. is he conducting a service, is he visiting a sick parishioner)?

aliciac

I'm not sure exactly what he's doing. I'll be getting more information when I meet with him tomorrow. Although, what difference would it make either way?

Whatever

I don't know. But something inside me is asking what if I had an employee whose second job was a pastor, minister, rabbi etc. etc. Would I allow them an accomodation so they could lead their congregation in prayer (probably yes-though I'm not sure why). However, if they wanted an accomodation to visit a sick congregant, lead prayers at a funeral, perform a wedding I doubt if I would approve the accomodation. The question in my head in your example is is this accomodating a strongly held religious belief or helping someone get a doctor of divinity degree. If I sound confused, it is because I am.

aliciac

I'm confused too
I have read the employment laws and it doesn't seem to include needing to make accomodations for people with other jobs in the religious field. We have a policy that states that employees can hold other jobs as long as they don't interfere with their duties and schudule with us.

System

aliciac, you might want to read about religious discrimination in the Subscribers Area of this website:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/[/url]

There are numerous articles in our 50 state newsletters as well as a Special Report on the topic (yellow box at the bottom of the page).

I haven't heard about this issue specifically, but maybe there's something there.

Good luck.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Paul in Cannon Beach

I wouldn't make the distinction. Whether the ee is in the pulpit or in the pews, he is practicing his religion. In the Christian faith, a pastor is just one of many "callings" that are given to individuals within the church. Other callings include evangelist, administrators, and encouragers.

Excercising your individual gift is an essential part of practicing your faith, i.e. pastoring.

WT

If he is to be a pastor, that puts a different light on things. In a secular light, this is another job. Most pastors are paid in some way for their work. I have not seen cases where the employer has to accommodate another job simply because it is religious in nature. On the spiritual side, many people have suffered in the practise of their faith over the years. However, there is little precedent to require fellow workers to suffer so a pastor can minister. Christians are commanded, "Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." This would include rendering to the employer what is due. If this person expects to be light and salt in a wicked world, doing it on the backs of his fellow employees is a poor way to start.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Many small churches can't afford a full time pastor so the pastor holds a paying job in addition to his pastoring duties.

If the ee needs sunday off to be in his church I don't see why it matters if he is up front or in the seats.

I think you should accommodate and not try to distinguish one role in a church from another.

Amen.

WT

Paul, what you say about small churches is doubtless true. It is also true that there are many part time or "lay" preachers out there who are also working. We are also somewhat handicapped in looking at this problem because we do not know what other accommodations have been made or why. On the other hand, you have to look at the other staff. This is not a money question for the employer as somebody must be on staff and must be paid on Sunday. Schedule changes to give Sundays off come out of the hide of fellow workers. If rotating days off give employees only one weekend off per month, this means that to give this person every Sunday off, at least three employees (four employees in some months) must give up half of their only weekend per month and they must do so on a permanent basis. I have worked that sort of schedule in years gone by and have a good idea of what is being asked of the other employees. If nothing like this has been done before, I would not do it at my facility. It is simply asking too much of the other employees. There are many many jobs out there where weekends are regular days off. If a person takes a job where there is only one weekend per month off, that schedule is a given for that job. I would try to fit the person into one of the Monday through Friday jobs if anything were available.

aliciac

I should clear up a little on the whole issue of other people having received this kind of accomodation. He is in just about the lowest position in the company, and all other people in his position work the rotating schedule without exception. He has been with the compnay for 3 months and the schedule was made very clear to him when he started.
The people who are granted a different schedule (Mon-Fri) are people who have been with the company for longer, or have slightly different job descriptions within this same department. He has been accomodated by moving him to part time, which he has worked for a month now and had said he was fine with. He now wants more hours because he can't pay his bills on part time work (understandably). He was talking about the problem with a fellow employee who told him that he felt that it it was discrimination...so the employee came to me with that.
Since the original post I've had another meeting with the employee and 2 with his manager. He now works Tues, Weds, Thurs. and Saturday with the opportunity to pick up hours when we're busy (which is often). He seems fine with this new arrangement and hopefully it won't open up a can of worms of upset his fellow employees.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Another interesting question is "what does it mean to attend church" and does it have to be on Sunday morning?

Many churches are starting Sunday evening services, Tuesday night services, etc.

My understanding is that you have to accommodate a sincerely held religious belief but you don't have to offer the accommodation the EE prefers.

By the way, Washington and Oregon are ranked #1 and #2 as "least church attendance" states in the US. Just under a third of the population regularly attends church as compared to parts of the Bible belt where 76 percent are in the pews Sunday morning.