Best Ohio Religion Discrimination Attorney Answer: What if my religion precludes me from working certain days of the week? Does my employer have to honor my religious practices of not working on certain days? What can I do if my reasonable request for religious accommodation at work is denied?
At Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, our employment lawyers have dealt with numerous instances of employees that must take certain days of the week or certain days of the year off because of religious beliefs, such as the Sabbath. Often times, these employees are denied their right to practice their religion simply because the employer doesn’t feel they have to honor the request or just because “it’s not the way things work.” Some mangers, supervisors, and bosses will even blame it on coworkers by saying “if no one will switch shifts with you, it’s not my fault.” Employers are often clueless when it comes to the fact that employees’ religious beliefs must be honored as long as the request for accommodation is reasonable. Simply hiding behind a scheduling policy or claiming that the accommodation would be an inconvenience would not be enough to absolve the employer from a costly lawsuit and forthcoming liability.
As a backdrop, all employees are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, in Ohio under R.C. § 4112.02(A), from being discriminated against or retaliated against by their employers on the basis of their religion. Specifically, Title VII prohibits religious discrimination in hiring, promotion, wrongful discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral, and other aspects of employment. (Title VII provides the same protections for race/color, gender/sex, or national origin). Title VII protects all religions and religious beliefs, including whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Hindu, or Born Again Christian.
While you may find it hard to believe that employment discrimination based on religion still occurs in Ohio and around the country, our employment discrimination attorneys have regularly blogged about these occurrences religious discrimination by bosses, managers and supervisors. (See Can I Sue My Employer For Not Accommodating My Religious Dress? I Need A Lawyer!; Can I Sue if I Was Fired Because Of My Religion? I Need The Best Lawyer Reply!; Can I Sue A Religious Employer For Employment Discrimination? I Need A Lawyer!; and Can My Boss Fire Me If She Thinks I’m A Certain Religion But I’m Not? I Need An Employment Lawyer!)
A recent case involving a wholly reasonable request for a religious accommodation is sure to cost a careless employer a lot of money. Greenville Ready Mix Concrete, Inc., a North Carolina company, employed Michael Cole as a truck driver since 2007. In 2014, Michael was baptized as a Seventh-Day Adventist. Seventh-Day Adventist recognize Saturday as the Sabbath and religious practices prevent worshippers from working from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday each week. Michael informed his employer that he was now a practicing Seventh-Day Adventist and that he could no longer work on Saturdays.
The company could have been accommodating to Michael’s reasonable request and scheduled Michael to work an extra day other than Saturday. Instead, the company summarily decided that Michael’s religious beliefs should not be respected and scheduled him for the very next Saturday. After Michael informed his employer that he would not be coming into work on Saturday because of his religious beliefs, the company terminated Michael.
The company’s brazen decision is surely going to result in poor outcome for the company as this is clearly a wrongful termination based on religious discrimination. Unless the company can produce some kind of evidence that shows that giving one employee Saturdays off was an undue burden, the company is going to be on the hook for a large sum of money for implicitly firing an employee because of his religious beliefs.
If you are facing issues with your employer because of your religious beliefs, you should immediately contact an experiences employment attorney. It could make the difference between you losing your job because you practice a certain religion and having your company allow you to continue to work with your religious beliefs intact.
If you feel that you are being discriminated or harassed based on your religion or religious beliefs or that you were wrongfully terminated because of you are Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Hindu or any other religion, the best course of action you can take is to call the right attorney at 866-797-6040 to schedule a free and confidential consultation. At Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, you will meet with a religious discrimination attorney, who will be able to tell you what your legal rights are and the best way to protect them.
Disclaimer:
The materials available at the top of this religious discrimination blog and at this employment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. If you are still asking, “How do I …”, “What should I do …,” “Can my boss discriminate against me because I’m (Jewish/Muslim/Mormon/Hindu)?” or “I was fired for my religious beliefs. The answer to “What can I do?”, is to contact an Ohio attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular religious discrimination or other employment law issue or problem. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, Brian Spitz, or any individual attorney.