The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of religion. People are allowed to practice the religion of their choice without facing penalties, discrimination or intimidation. These religious freedoms extend to the workplace and measures taken to prevent religious observance can be unlawful.
Unfortunately, religious discrimination does still occur in the workplace. What exactly does this look like?
Direct religious discrimination
Many forms of religious discrimination are blatant and direct. What this means is that measures are put in place to specifically target members of a particular religion. In terms of employment practices, this can occur in several ways. For example, and employee may:
- Be paid less because they practice a certain religion
- Be refused employment because of their religion
- Be dismissed because of their religion
- Be denied training and promotion opportunities because of their religion
In essence, if an employee is purposely singled out and treated unfavorably compared to others because of religion, then this is religious discrimination.
Indirect religious discrimination
Religious discrimination can also be more subtle and indirect, but that doesn’t mean this type of discrimination is not harmful. Indirect religious discrimination occurs when policies and workplace practices apply to all workers, but only negatively impact on certain religious groups.
For example, a dress code that insists that no headwear can be worn by any employee may not impact people who don’t wear headwear in the first place. However, this type of policy can have an adverse impact on religious individuals who wear headwear as part of their religious observance.
If you have been impacted by religious discrimination, you do have options. Seeking legal guidance will help you to protect your rights.