A great many of our cases involve discrimination and retaliation. We are heavily involved in cases of discrimination based on race, disability, gender, national origin, and ethnicity.
Religious Discrimination in Workplace
Under both the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees and prospective employees on the basis of religion. This can include: failing to hire, terminating, or otherwise taking an adverse employment action due to an individual’s religious beliefs, or due to the religious beliefs of the individual’s spouse or someone else with whom the individual is associated; harassing an individual due to their religious beliefs or practices; segregating employees based on religion; and refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation for an individual’s religious beliefs or practices. It is important to note that employers can be held liable for discriminatory actions which their employees take, if the employer knew or should have known about the harassment/discrimination, and failed to take prompt and adequate remedial action.
In order to be the basis for a lawsuit, religious discrimination in employment must result in an adverse employment action, such as termination, demotion, suspension, failure to hire, failure to promote, etc. If an employer takes any of these actions due to an employee’s or applicant’s religious, ethical, or moral beliefs, or those of someone close to the employee or applicant, that is religious discrimination in employment.
If harassment due to religion is sufficiently severe or pervasive, it can create a hostile work environment. To constitute a hostile work environment, the conduct must be so severe or pervasive, that a reasonable person of the affected employee’s religion would believe that the working conditions were altered, and the working environment was intimidating, hostile or abusive. In this case, the altered environment itself is the adverse employment action.
Likewise, refusing to reasonably accommodate an individual’s religious beliefs or practices in the workplace is religious discrimination in employment. Some examples of accommodations employees may need due to their religion are: being allowed to wear a headscarf, which would otherwise violate the employer’s dress code; being allowed to take prayer breaks; being excused from wearing otherwise-required clothing (such as mini-skirts) which would violate the individual’s religious beliefs; being allowed to not work on religious holidays; and being allowed to not work on certain days, as required by the individual’s religious beliefs.
Do you believe you have been discriminated against in employment due to your religion? It’s important to act quickly to find out if you may have a claim of religious discrimination in employment. Since every situation is different, an experienced New Jersey employment attorney can help you fully understand your rights in this area.
The attorneys at Hyderally & Associates are ready to help you. They have experience working to fight religious discrimination in employment, so they can review your situation to provide information that will help you decide if you would like to pursue a claim against an employer under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination or Title VII. Call an experienced employment attorney in New Jersey at (973) 509-8500.
This article is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, and may not reasonably be relied upon as such. If you face a legal issue, you should consult a qualified attorney for independent legal advice with regard to your particular set of facts. This article may constitute attorney advertising. This article is not intended to communicate with anyone in a state or other jurisdiction where such an article may fail to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that state or jurisdiction.