New Jersey and federal laws make it illegal for an employer to discriminate against a worker based on the worker’s religion, with narrow exceptions. If you are denied a job, singled out for discipline, or fired because of your religion (or perceived religion), then your employer has broken the civil rights laws and is subject to civil remedies and penalties, including – as relevant – back pay, front pay, pain and suffering, punitive damages, and counsel fees/costs of suit.  A judge also has the power to order your employer to give you your job back if you were fired, or the promotion you were denied. 

The law also mandates a reasonable accommodation of your religious beliefs and practices, as long as they do not interfere with workplace production or worker health, safety, and well-being (both co-workers’ and your own).  No employee gets a “blank check” to do or say anything they want to based on his or her religion, yet there may need to be some “give” by an employer to meet an employee’s religious beliefs.

For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. agency that enforces most federal employment discrimination laws, settled a case against a Florida staffing company.  According to an EEOC press release, a Rastafarian who wore dreadlocks as part of his sincerely held religious beliefs was removed from his work assignment and never reassigned because he refused to comply with a client’s grooming policy and continued to wear dreadlocks.

In another case, an observant member of the Apostolic Faith Church of God and True Holiness, a Pentecostal Christian denomination, had been offered a job through an employment agency. As part of her religious beliefs, she doesn’t wear pants because she is a woman and she must wear skirts or dresses. The potential employer’s dress code mandated that all employees must wear pants. The employer told the agency it would not take her and the job offer was withdrawn.  The company wouldn’t modify its dress code to accommodate her religious beliefs.

The main federal law addressing employment discrimination, Title VII, doesn’t prohibit dress or grooming rules generally, but they can’t have a “disparate impact” on those whose religious beliefs require a certain dress or hair style. An employer, once it knows a religious accommodation is needed, must accommodate an employee whose sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with a work requirement, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship for the employer or cause a health, safety, or welfare problem for co-workers or the employee him or herself.

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination offers employees exactly the same protections in the state courts.

Under state and federal laws, employers must fairly balance (A) an employee’s right to practice his or her religion with (B) the safe and efficient operation of the business. According to our laws, the two parties must engage in an “interactive process” and work together to meet each other’s needs.

In 2013, the EEOC published guidance on accommodating dress and grooming policies, explaining as follows:

• No employee should be forced to violate his or her religious beliefs to earn a living.
• Modifying a dress or grooming code is a reasonable accommodation that enables employees to keep working without posing an undue hardship on the employer.
• Religious dress and grooming practices include wearing religious clothing or articles (such as a Muslim hijab (headscarf), a Jewish yarmulke (head covering for Orthodox men), a Sikh turban, or a Christian cross); observing a religious prohibition against wearing certain garments (e.g., a Muslim, Pentecostal Christian, or Orthodox Jewish woman’s practice of not wearing pants or short skirts), or adhering to shaving or hair length observances (e.g., Sikh uncut hair and beard, Rastafarian dreadlocks, or Jewish sideburns worn by Orthodox males).

Religious and disability discrimination laws have some similarities. Once a person starts employment, their religious and disability needs could require accommodations. There needs to be good faith and open minds on both sides so a person’s religious beliefs won’t be violated, a disabled person can do his or her job with assistive devices or scheduling changes, and the workplace can run safely and efficiently.

If you have a concern about religious discrimination in the workplace, contact our experienced employment attorneys for workers at Hanan M. Isaacs, P.C., at 609-683-7400, or contact us online.  We will set up a near-term and reduced fee initial consultation for you at our Central Jersey location in Kingston.  We will listen to your facts, explain the law, and recommend the best pathways to financial and social justice. 

Call today. You will be glad you did.