Harassment can happen from co-workers as well as supervisors and managers. Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) guidelines the employer is automatically responsible for the actions of supervisors and managers (Gilani, Cavico & Mutjaba, 2012). Liability for harassment initiated by co-workers depends on the situation. If the employer was aware that harassment was taking place by co-workers and did not take corrective or preventative action to stop the harassment, they become liable. Employers should take clear preventative actions to ensure that religious harassment does not occur in the workplace. It is an employer’s responsibility to create a healthy, safe and positive work environment for all its employees. Diversity …show more content…
Such standards would be in line with those that employers are mandated to take in cases of employees with physical and emotional disabilities and would also more closely approximate standard that now apply to federal agencies under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Although this bill has had many supporters, it has not passed.
Accommodation of Religious Beliefs Within reason, employers are legally required to accommodate religious beliefs. If an employee or applicant asserts religious discrimination, the company cannot simply ignore the employee, demote them, move them to a different department or fire them. The burden of proof is on the company to show the undue hardship accommodating the religious belief would cause. Ghumman, Ryan & Markel (2013) wrote, “Employers may not simply refuse an accommodation, but have to demonstrate that they have made a good faith effort to reasonably accommodate the employee, but the accommodation produces undue hardship on the employer”. One example would be, if a small business sells alcohol and tobacco, and an applicant states they cannot sell such items due to their religious beliefs, the business can determine
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As mentioned in “Managing workplace religious expression within the legal constraints (2016), “employers are likely to find justifications for imposing restrictions” (p. 409). Religious belief tends to be expressed through dress and grooming. Many Muslim women chose to wear a burqa, hijab, or niqab while some Christians feel as if wearing a cross is significant to their belief. Dress codes can be easily justified through health and safety concerns as shown through Azmi v Kirkless Borough Council. In Azmi v Kirkless Borough Council, an employee claimed she faced discrimination when seeking permission to wear a burqa (Hambler, 2016). The court decided the employer met justification for denying the ability to wear a burqa at work because Azmi’s job demanded that her facial movements could be
New York Transit Authority, the employer is required by the law to reasonably accommodate Ms. Myers religious beliefs. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2015) An employee’s every desire request is not required by the guidelines prescribed in Title VII. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2015) If accomodating Ms. Myers would have caused undue hardship to the employer, the New York Transit Authority, reserves the right to limit its accommodation. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2015)
In the article, Chesler uses several persuasive appeals in an attempt to convince readers to support France’s ban on head coverings. While some may argue that banning religious clothing infringes on Islamic law, Chesler points out that “many eloquent, equally educated Muslim religious… women insist that the Koran does not mandate that women cover their faces… Leading Islamic scholars agree with them.” In an appeal to logos, Chesler uses facts, gathered from educated Muslim women and Islamic scholars, to show that this argument is illogical because the burqa is not required. Chesler continues logos appeals by citing the Sheikh of al-Azhat University as saying “The niqab is tradition. It has no connection to religion.” This passage demonstrates ethos as well, but carries on the idea that burqas and niqabs are not required by Islamic law, making the ban perfectly logical. The idea is that, since these garments are not mandatory in the Koran’s broad requisite of “modest dress,” the ban does not infringe on religious rights, making the ban a logical choice. Chesler takes the argument one step further by insisting that the burqa is not only optional, it is detrimental to wearers. The argument that “it is a human rights violation and constitutes both a health hazard and is a form of torture” to women who wear burqa exhibits both logos and pathos. By pointing out that burqas are a possible “health hazard,” Chesler uses unappealing syntax to make readers believe that burqas are unhealthy and i...
The Court held that failing to accommodate a potential employee or an employee was enough to bring up a disparate treatment claim. It held that in order to make a claim based on disparate impact the plaintiff needs only to prove that the need for accommodation was the motive behind the employer’s refusal to hire them, not whether the employer knew about this need. Therefore, the Court determined that rather than imposing a knowledge standard, like the 10th Circuit Court did, motive was enough to violate Title VII since Abercrombie knew or suspected that Elauf wore the headscarf for religious reasons and did not want to accommodate her. “An employer may not make an applicant’s religious practice, confirmed or otherwise, a factor in employment decisions” (EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., 2015). Finally, the Court held because of the description that Title VII gives for religion, it places religion as a protected class and therefore asks that it be given favored treatment over other
With all discrimination aside, what’s important is to show some honest respect, ethics, value, and loyalty to every employee.
Some religious discrimination cases can be technical, while others can be ambiguous. However, in the following case, the level of discrimination can clearly and easily be detected. In 2011, the EEOC filed a lawsuit on behalf of Umme-Hani Khan (plaintiff) agains...
Early modern Europe was host to many large religions and religious groups including Catholicism, Protestantism, and even Islam in small numbers. There were many changes occurring in regards to religious toleration between the 16th and 18th centuries. Monarchs, intellectuals, and various councils alike had differing arguments and practices on whether or not it was ok to tolerate other religions.
Clothing is perhaps the simplest form of expression used by people to differentiate themselves from other members of society at both the collective and individual level. Clothing has the ability to simultaneously delineate an individual’s identifying attributes such as gender, profession, religion and ethnicity. Likewise, religious symbols entail wearing particular garments, amongst many other articles, and individuals choosing to wear it to overtly demarcate their religion and faith. Many traditions have distinctive religious symbols, such as Sikhs wearing the turban and Catholic nuns wearing the black veil. In Islam, there are several religious symbols such as the hijab, the burqa and the niqab intended to be worn by Muslim women. In recent
According to Andrews and Boyle (2016), having a diverse workforce provides a greater satisfaction among employees, which will result in higher retention of employees as well. By hiring a diverse culture within an organization this increases a workplaces economy and becomes a culturally competent organization. Otherwise, a high turnover can be very costly to an organization and the functionality can decrease. Many organizations have developed policies to help recruit and retain people from different backgrounds. When employees feel that they are valued because of their diversity, the employees will feel protected from discrimination, feel that there is room for advancement within the company, and increase employment retention (Kaplan, Wiley, & Maertz, 2011). With the increase of minorities across the nation, having diversity in nurses and healthcare workers to accommodate this diversity also improves the quality of care to the patients while also increasing their health outcomes and satisfaction (Ayoola, 2013). We have learned in the previous weeks that being able to communicate with our patient’s and understanding their culture can positively increase the outcome of the health. Having a diverse staff will also help establish trust and make them feel at ease. However, there can be barriers to having a diverse culture in the
Most of these things it is possible to see through the analysis of the situation that exists in practice and analysis of several court cases. In France, for years women with Hijab encounter problems, both in education and in ...
Diversity in the workplace is important for employees because it manifests itself in building a great reputation for the company, leading to increased profitability and opportunities for workers. Making sure all members, students, parents and guarding’s are welcomed at all times in a well-mannered environment Workplace diversity is important within the organization as well as outside ensuring all different are put aside and everyone can come together and work well as a great team.
According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n. d.), best practices in the workplaces is the following “Employers should allow religious expression among employees to the same extent that they allow other types of personal expression that are not harassing or disruptive” (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n. d., p. 2). Furthermore, it is in the best interest of the employer to act in a timely fashion to allegations made by an employee that may feel offended, threatened, or harassed in order to avoid the situation from escalating to something that can be pervasive and abusive, which can create a hostile work environment (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n. d.). Such a case can lead to Title VII violation. If such discriminatory actions are coming from a contractor, then the manager is to discuss this with the contractor and suggest to stop otherwise a new contractor may be requested for the job (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n. d.). From the employee’s end, the employee can personally confront a person to stop making unwelcomed religious comments or anti-religious comments (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n. d.).
...oyment. Under this act Employees cannot be forced to participate, or not participate in a religious activity as a condition of employment. Employers may not treat employees or applicants less - or more - favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices. Managers must also reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. If other employees’ do not like the person the manager must do everything in his power to prevent religious harassment in the workplace (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).
Initially, I will give a brief definition of “religious belief” and “religious discrimination” and write afterwards about prohibitions regarding religious discrimination, reasonably accommodation of religious beliefs and practices, undue hardship, and about the question “Who is subject to the provisions under Title VII?”.
The researcher believes, in this fast-changing era, any kind of company or organization should be able to improve the quality of workplace diversity by having some important main factor to boost the new paradigm of a diverse workplace, such as:
As a Latter Day Saint, I naturally have different religious views from other Christians. While Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity are similar in many ways, there are also many differences. Nevertheless, I have always been taught to tolerate and be respectful towards other religions despite our differences. I have also been taught to not judge nor criticize other religions no matter our difference in opinion, and instead to be friendly and open to listening to other people about their religion.