Religious Discrimination is a Serious Issue in the Workplace
Every year thousands of workers and job applicants become victims of religious-based discrimination in their place of work. If you have suffered from workplace discrimination because of your religion or other belief systems, contact the employment rights law firm of Joseph Farzam. We have won cases and settlement against some of the largest companies in our nation that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. Feel free to contact us if you have been discriminated by your employer.
Specific acts which can be constituted as religious-based discrimination at work
- Denial of promotion due to a belief system
- Failure to pay wages in line with other employees
- Refusal to provide proper training
- Refusal to accommodate your religions dress code including the hejab or Islamic dress code
- Failure to accommodate religious dress code
- Harassment at work due to religious practice
- Termination of employment due to religion
- Failing to excuse a person from performing a task that is against his religious practice
Workplace Religious Accommodations
California and federal law business owners are required to accommodate workers’ religious beliefs. If you have notified your employer of your religious beliefs and your respective need to be provided with reasonable accommodation for those beliefs then your employer must make an effort in good faith to provide for such accommodation. Examples of reasonable belief based accommodations may include:
- Providing time off during the day for religious observances such as praying;
- Flexible dress code requirements;
- Allowing for job transfers to accommodate belief systems;
- Altering work requirements;
- Scheduling accommodations.
California Law AB 1964 – Protection of employees from religious discrimination
Recently the state of California passed AB 1964 providing the most robust protection for religious minorities in the workplace. Under AB 1964 an employer must provide for “reasonable alternative means of accommodating the religious belief or observance, including the possibilities of excusing the person from those duties that conflict with his or her religion”. This includes allowing, when reasonable, a person to wear a dress or maintain a certain grooming practice, including maintaining a beard or long hair. As a result of this law, an employer business owner is required to show evidence of hardship to his/her business before denying accommodation requested by employees.
Examples of religious dress and grooming practice that may be protected under this law include:
- Wearing a beard;
- Maintaining long hair, wearing a wig, or a shaved head;
- Wearing a hijab;
- Wearing a skull cap;
- Wearing a Long dress;
- Wearing religious iconography at work.
Proving Your Case in Court – California Employment Rights Law Firm
Our esteemed and experienced legal team has helped numerous clients with employment law matters throughout California. In order to win a religious discrimination claim, an attorney must prove…
- Employee has a sincere belief in the religion
- Employer had knowledge of the beliefs and practices of the employee
- Employee was qualified for the position or was performing the job satisfactorily
- There was an adverse action to his employment.
Our firm understands how violated employees may feel after being poorly treated by their employers, which is why we strive to offer all of our clients compassionate, yet reliable legal counsel and direction.