Religion Should Be Allowed Within The Workplace

In “Working it Out” by Diana Eck, she writes about religious oppression in the workplace. The examples she gives on the many ways people have been fired, or the ways in which people's faiths have been compromised, reiterates that the amendment that states freedom of religion in the United States, is

Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2012). Managing Human Resources (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

This says it is unlawful to discriminate against people at work because of their religion or belief. The regulations also cover training that is to do with work.

Second, in 2013 the 10th Circuit Court ruled, an employee must communicate the disaccord between a religious practice and a work rule. The Court determined that an employee understands whether the practice observed by the employer is predicated in an inflexible religious practice. (10th Circuit Court, 2013) The relevance of this ruling is that only the employee can determine whether or not the employer is being inflexible in

The United States is one of the most culturally and religiously diverse countries in the world. The founding fathers of the United States wanted to ensure that its people would have the ability to practice their religion with no threat of persecution. In order to accomplish the goal of religious freedom and continue to ensure that all people of any religion would be free to practice their religion, the United States passed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits an employer from discriminating based on the religious views of its employees. As the citizens of the United States spend a large amount of time in their places of employment, religious practices that these employees feel are necessary for the true observance of their religion must be accommodated by the employers. This law contends that in cases where the accommodation of religious practices of its employees does not create undue hardships, an employer must make reasonable accommodations for employees to practices the beliefs of their religion. As the demographics of the United States continues to change with more religiously diverse people immigrating to the country, employers are coming under more pressure to ensure they are taking all possible precautions to accommodate the religious practices of its employees. These precautions are important as the once an employee has established a bona fide complaint of religious discrimination, the burden of proof then falls on the employer to prove they

Under the first amendment right a person has the right to exercise whatever religion that they so choose. And that is why Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came along is there to protect all employees that are and may be discriminated by employers, which means that an employer should not refuses to hire a candidate based on their religious beliefs or practices, or they cannot refuse to promote an employee, or adjust their rate of pay on their religion, they must be treated exactly as any other employee within the company, they should not be discriminated or be segregated against. Title VII also protects employees against employers or employees making any prejudice remarks against them. Employees are protected by both Title V11 and

Reasonable Accommodation & Religion: The law requires an employer to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices, unless doing so would cause difficulty or expense for the employer. This means an employer may have to make reasonable adjustments at work that will allow the employee to practice his or her religion, such as allowing an employee to voluntarily swap shifts with a co- worker.

Everyone is entitled to natural rights such as freedom of speech, freedom to protest, and freedom of beliefs or religion. However, these are personal, or private, rights, and are therefore limited in the work force. Once one brings these personal rights, more specifically freedom of religion, into the work force, they violate the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state is simply a law preventing government officials to serve with biased opinions based on personal beliefs. All government agents are expected to serve with an unbiased opinion, and it is difficult to do that if one

Under the title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination. Discrimination of basis of sex, race, color, national origin, or religion. If a profit corporation have religious beliefs they will be able to argue they have the right to side-step Title VII and, for example, hire only those who sign a “statement of faith” or share the same religious

Religion can influence how a law enforcement officer conducts him or herself. However, faith can influence their actions, but when dealing with controversial situations, an officer, regardless of personal opinion, should conduct themselves in a manner which is respectful and honorable to their department and all parties involved.

Cultural differences in the workplace can sometimes become a challenge in the work environment. In order to facilitate these differences, there must be some form of cultural awareness. Cultural awareness can help employees face the challenge of responding to individuals with different religions in the workplace, expose religious practices, and eliminate stereotyping in the workplace. Awareness of religions, and the beliefs associated with different religions, can be accomplished in many ways, such as training courses, workshops or company handouts (Thomas Kochan, 2003, p. 4). Companies must embrace multiculturalism and diversity.

suggest that there is an obvious solution that is fair. When it comes to fairness, I think it is fair

Religion in the workplace can bring up some of the most difficult issues employers have to face. Resolving these issues requires understanding the law and balancing the business's needs with an employee's desire to practice his or her religion. One of the most contentious conflicts is between an employee's desire to take time off and the potential reduction in productivity and profitability. In ruling on Title VII religion cases, the courts have held that employers aren't required to accommodate employees' religious activities when it involves increased financial costs, transferring supervisory personnel or employees from other departments resulting in inefficiency, or discriminating against other employees or violating seniority systems. Accommodations that don't constitute undue hardship to the employer include voluntary substitutions or employee "swaps," flexible work schedules, floating or optional holidays, staggered work hours, and allowing employees to make up lost time. Transfers and job changes also are options if they don't cause reduced efficiency or

Today there are over 900 religious employee resource groups, according to the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (Cañas & Sondak, 2010). These affinity groups can help encourage religious understanding by offering panel discussions that educate employees on their beliefs. By allowing open discussion, answering religious questions and creating an open, welcoming religious environment in the workplace employees can better relate to one another through shared religious principles (Cañas & Sondak, 2010). When looking at the business case for diversity, not asking employees to hide their faith at work allows for greater productivity, and time and energy focused on business results (Cañas

According to classical utilitarianism, we must “allocate the total amount of happiness among as many people as possible” (Pojman, 218). When analyzing whether to allow the Islamic employees the right to pray on break, utilitarians may argue that allowing Islamic employees, who only make up 20% of the factory population, the right to pray is a decision that focuses on the minority as opposed to what is best for the majority. Furthermore, there is evidence that allowing Islamic employees to take flexible breaks hinders the factory’s productivity, which damages profits, and in turn, hurts not only the factory employees but also the shareholders in the company. Additionally, the issue is also forming tensions between the Islamic and non-Islamic employees. For all these reasons, utilitarians could argue that it is better for the majority if Windham did not allow the Islamic workers to pray during work. However, this is an incomplete argument because it fails to account for the potential consequences. Should Windham choose to violate the agreement he has established with the Islamic workers, he runs the risk of being sued for violating his agreement with the Islamic employees. Furthermore, Windham risks external organizations becoming involved because he is violating the workers’ rights to practice their faith. Both of these ramifications would not only hurt his company because of negative publicity but would also hurt key stakeholders because