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Providing People Solutions |
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Providing People Solutions |
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), employees have a right to request an accommodation for a “sincerely held” religious belief. Employers must provide a reasonable accommodation for workers who have “sincerely held” religious beliefs, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship on the employer. To respond to an employee’s request for a religious accommodation, HR Partners recommends the following steps:
Personal, political, or philosophical beliefs do not qualify for a religious accommodation under Title VII. To determine whether an employee has a “sincerely held” religious belief, employers are entitled to make a limited inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the employee’s claim that the belief or practice is religious and “sincerely held”, and gives rise to the need for an accommodation.
The EEOC, in its technical assistance document entitled, “Questions and Answers: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace”, provides guidance for employers as to what constitutes a limited inquiry as follows:
"Factors that – either alone or in combination – might undermine an employee's assertion that he sincerely holds the religious belief at issue include: whether the employee has behaved in a manner markedly inconsistent with the professed belief; whether the accommodation sought is a particularly desirable benefit that is likely to be sought for secular reasons; whether the timing of the request renders it suspect (e.g., it follows an earlier request by the employee for the same benefit for secular reasons); and whether the employer otherwise has reason to believe the accommodation is not sought for religious reasons."
If the employee’s religious belief is determined to be sincere, the employer should engage in a dialogue with the employee to determine what reasonable accommodation(s), if any, are available. The best practice is to have the employee fill out a written request for an accommodation.
The employer must take into consideration the requested accommodation, but ultimately, the employer determines the reasonable accommodation. In some cases, providing an accommodation may be an undue hardship on the employer. An undue hardship must be more than “de minimis” cost or burden on the operation of the employer’s business. Whether or not an accommodation is provided, the employer should provide the employee with a written response regarding the determination. If an accommodation is provided, employers may revisit accommodation requests and adjust as necessary.
If you have questions regarding COVID-19 religious accommodations, or other HR needs, please call HR Partners at 785-233-7860.
As part of our ongoing support of the Topeka Community, we would like to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on Channel 27 News and their weekly Veteran Salute segment.
This week, Channel 27 highlighted John Dietrick's service in Vietnam. To read the full article or watch the full interview, click on the image below or click here.
We are thankful to John, and all our Veterans, for their service!
Tambra Offield
Officer Manager
East Texas Electric Cooperative
“I first met Kristina Dietrick and learned of HR Partners at last year’s NRECA Interact conference. Her presentation on developing an employee handbook was very informative. Kristina sent me all the materials and introduced me to the staff who worked closely with myself and our General Manager to develop our new employee handbook specifically to fit our needs.
We were so impressed that when our Board President asked about doing an evaluation of our General Manager’s performance, that we immediately thought of HR Partners.”
We can’t thank HR Partners enough for all their help with our GM’s review process. Their knowledge and experience made the process so easy.
I have recommended CBS to all 10 of our distribution cooperative members for all their human resources needs.
