The Meaning Of Reasonable Accommodations For Religious Practices

History shows a pattern of change in relation to religious involvement of governmental affairs. As religion becomes less a part of American life, the court develops new laws to accommodate our new society. Look to the communities we live in presently and ask yourself if the American people are facing oppression of religious freedom, a freedom listed in our Constitution under the First Amendment. This spirals into an abyss of politics. Is same-sex marriage a personal matter or a public one? Is the Republican Party fair in opting to end abortion? Should a woman have contraceptive included in her health insurance plan despite the religious views of her employer? This is one of the areas in which

First, the ex-employee NEVER requested a reasonable accommodation. Title VII requires a person to make said request without the request creating an undue hardship to the company. An employee must inform the company of the need for an accommodation based on a disaccord between the person’s religious belief or practices and their work duties. The relevance is that the law requires the individual to request an accommodation. According to the information cited, this individual made no such request.

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

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.

A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job or things related to someone’s job that allow an individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of the position as long as it does not present too much of a hardship to the employer. For example, an employer must make existing facilities used by employees readily

The goal of the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act is to provide everyone in Mississippi the same freedoms that are in our Constitution without the fear of being prosecuted for their religious beliefs. Therefore, I find that the Act is legal and I believe the goal of the Act are just and democratic because it does not mention discriminating against anyone. However, the LGBT community feels they will be targeted for discrimination under this law. This Act and many others like it has the country torn between doing what is socially acceptable and what is religiously acceptable, but professionally it is consistent with the values of the professional social work.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is a federal law that was set up to protect the free exercise of religion, as an undeniable right, protected by the First Amendment. Easy enough, right –however, it seems can be interpreted in different ways, some depending on what your beliefs are i.e., religious or secular. Such as in the legal case of Burwell (U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services) vs. Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby argued that they should not have to pay for contraceptives for their employees as part of their healthcare because contraceptives such as the emergency contraception went against their religious beliefs because is an abortifacient.

The Religious Liberty Accommodations Act will insure everyone is entitled to their own religious beliefs while protecting them from government sanctions or prosecution. The Act itself will be part of the 2016 laws in the state of Mississippi and will require complaints of discrimination to be made up to two years after the effective date of the Act. The Act will not provide any resources other than the protection of religious freedom. The Act is established and enforced only in the state of Mississippi and all citizens of Mississippi are mandated to follow this policy. The way Mississippi will implement this Act is by ensuring that the First Amendment is their top priority and that no one should be punished because of their religious beliefs.

In my findings on Mississippi’s Religious Liberty Accommodations, the Act refers to the U.S. Constitution and various principles of anti-discrimination laws. The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution established the right to freely exercise religious beliefs, and according to the Act, “the right to freedom of religion undergirds the very origin and existence of the United States” (Hodge, 2006). In addition, the Act highlights principles of international law, such as those outlined in the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which identify religious freedom as a universal human right.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) prohibit many employers from engaging in religious discrimination in the workplace(Civil Rights n.d) The Somali Muslims requested reasonable accommodation for time to pray at sun down . The Somali were denied by JBS- SWIFT a reasonable accommodation for a payer time at sun down. Time for prayer would be considered a reasonable accommodation. JBS- SWIFT may request that Somali make up the time that was taken out for prayer. Employers are obligated to try in good faith to resolve the religious conflict between the Muslims and the meat packing company. JBS-SWIFT was held accountable for the termination of the Muslim that walked off the job,

Sikh leaders, Senators and representatives provided assistance by signing a letter that aided in changing the minds of the military. Articles of faith are seen as an extension of the Soldier versus a threat to regulations and standards of the military. Sikhs are often mistaken as Muslim extremist because of the way they dress. Time, communication and education has changed the minds of decision makers to understand that the way a person dresses does not constitute their behavior or intentions. Sikhs maintain their hair and beard in a neat presence and abide by regulations as

In the Orthodox Jewish tradition women are required to dress in modest skirts or dresses, where their legs, necks, and elbows cannot be seen in public. For that reason, they are expected to wear sleeves at least to the elbow, blouses or dresses with necklines that do not expose any cleavage and skirts that cover the knees when seated. This is not because a women’s body is sinful but rather that men are weak, and if they would see too much of a women’s skin it would arouse desires and distract them (Women in North America Judaism). It is also consider immodest for married women to have uncovered hair in front of men other than her husband, not because women’s hair is considered something evil, but that is considered a beautiful thing and should be shown only to a husband that women loves. Also, covering their hair is a part of “tzniut”, a spiritual path of modesty and

The Orthodox Jewish people often wear modest clothes such as, women are not to wear bright or tight clothes and are to wearing clothes with sleeves that cover their elbows and skirts go down over their knees. It is very common that when women become married they cover their hair to gesture that they are no longer single. However, the dressing for men is not as binding as women's, as in some communities men are allowed to wear shorts but it is discouraged.

The following recommendation is for Mr. Williams, President and CEO of Fluorescent Light Fixtures, from the human resources department with a recommendation to approve religious prayer accommodation three times a day for Mr. Suleiman, a Sunni Muslim, during his scheduled work shift at our plant in St Louis Missouri. Mr. Suleiman was recently hired and his first workday will be 31 August 2014, working the day shift from 0800 – 1700, Sunday through Thursday. During his initial orientation session that all new employees attended on 18 August 2014, he submitted his religious accommodation request to his assigned supervisor. The request is to be allowed to pray three times a day (noon, afternoon, sunset) for approximately 10 minutes a session. The following where reviewed by the human resource department, manufacturing department and our litigation department, in our review process for either recommending approval or disapproval of his request (1) The religious practice, (2) Federal and state laws, and (3) Undue burden or hardship for the company if approved. Let’s review each of these points in more detail.

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