Religious Discrimination

If your religion dictates the observance of Saturday as the Sabbath, but your employer requires Saturday work, may you be subjected to discipline for refusing to work Saturdays? The answer is maybe.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and corresponding Ohio law prohibit employers from taking adverse employment action against employees because of their religious affiliation or beliefs. Title VII also imposes a duty upon employers to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs that conflict with employment requirements and which are communicated to employers in advance of discipline. Therefore, if you can demonstrate that your employer made decisions adversely affecting your employment based on your religious affiliation or beliefs rather than the merits of your work OR you have been denied a reasonable accommodation relating to your sincerely held religious beliefs, you may have a claim for religious discrimination. In addition, Title VII prohibits harassment based on religious affiliation or beliefs.

A large number of religious discrimination claims result from conflicts between employer work requirements and sincerely held religious beliefs. Typically, an employer has only a minimal obligation to make religious accommodations, however, there are usually numerous such options, including flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or shift swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.

If you feel that you have been subjected to some form of religious discrimination, please complete the following form fields:

All fields are required

Full Name:
Phone Number:
Email Address (if none, enter N/A):
Preferred Method of Contact:
Employer at Issue:
Religion:
Form of adverse action suffered (i.e. fired, laid off, demoted, etc.):
Date(s) of adverse action:
Please provide a brief description as to why you feel that you were discriminated against based on your religious affiliation or beliefs:
Did you make your employer aware of your sincerely held religious belief prior to being subjected to discipline?
What reason(s) do you anticipate that your employer will offer as justification for taking the adverse action against you?

Practice Areas