Title Vii, the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII, The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Abstract
Under federal law, an employer usually cannot make work-related decisions based upon an employee's religion. This means, that generally an employer has to give their workers time off from work to practice their faith and celebrate religious holidays. Employers may face legal issues and be fined if they refuse time off without a good reason. Time off cannot be denied just because the employer doesn't believe in the holiday or religion but needs a legitimate business reason in the eyes of the law. With respect to our dilemma, our employee
John’s refusal to carry out his assigned job because of a new religious belief is a very interesting situation. Since it is possible for an employer to limit the time off even in these types of situations. This is defined as a “reasonable religious accommodation.” (EEOC, 2012, landing page). A religious accommodation is any work-related adjustment that will allow an employee time off to practice religion. (EEOC, 2012, landing page). There are several options for employers to work with an employee requesting time off for religious beliefs and traditions, this includes providing flex time work schedules, allowing workers to switch vacation days, unpaid leave, and working with the employees work schedules to allow off on those specific days. An option to the employer to reduce or prevent an employee from taking off for religious practices are an employer can also claim an undue hardship rule. (EEOC, 2012, landing page). This is defined as an “employer can disallow time off to an employee for religious reason if it may be anything that has a negative impact on the business.” (Anti-
Defamation League, 2012, landing page). For our example, giving John the religious accommodation to not deliver to our east side customers on the days of
Abstract
Under federal law, an employer usually cannot make work-related decisions based upon an employee's religion. This means, that generally an employer has to give their workers time off from work to practice their faith and celebrate religious holidays. Employers may face legal issues and be fined if they refuse time off without a good reason. Time off cannot be denied just because the employer doesn't believe in the holiday or religion but needs a legitimate business reason in the eyes of the law. With respect to our dilemma, our employee
John’s refusal to carry out his assigned job because of a new religious belief is a very interesting situation. Since it is possible for an employer to limit the time off even in these types of situations. This is defined as a “reasonable religious accommodation.” (EEOC, 2012, landing page). A religious accommodation is any work-related adjustment that will allow an employee time off to practice religion. (EEOC, 2012, landing page). There are several options for employers to work with an employee requesting time off for religious beliefs and traditions, this includes providing flex time work schedules, allowing workers to switch vacation days, unpaid leave, and working with the employees work schedules to allow off on those specific days. An option to the employer to reduce or prevent an employee from taking off for religious practices are an employer can also claim an undue hardship rule. (EEOC, 2012, landing page). This is defined as an “employer can disallow time off to an employee for religious reason if it may be anything that has a negative impact on the business.” (Anti-
Defamation League, 2012, landing page). For our example, giving John the religious accommodation to not deliver to our east side customers on the days of
References: Anti-Defamation League. (2012). Religious accommodations in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.com/guidance/discrimination/religious-discrimination/ EEOC. (2012). Religious discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.com/ EEOC Merriam-Webster. (2012). Definition of religion. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion Miller, R. and Jentz, G. (2010). Fundamentals of Business Law. Summarized Cases. 8th Ed. Mason: Cengage Learning. NOLO. (2012). Written employment contracts: pros and cons. Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/written-employment-contracts-pros-cons-30193.html Smith, D.J. (1996). Legal research and writing. New York: Delmar Publishers.