Religious Faith in the Workplace? The Resistance May Not Be What You Think

More often than not, park-it-at-the-door thinking [about religious faith] has less to do with hostility to faith than with the avoidance of risk, for many employer’s fear that any hint of religion is a potential source of conflict or litigation. To be sure, inappropriate religious conduct can lead to claims of discrimination and harassment, and in recent years employee lawsuits on these grounds have outpaced all other complaints against employers under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the United States.

But notable within this trend are growing numbers of cases alleging failures by employers to allow the exercise of faith at work. Religious freedom enjoys a special place in American jurisprudence, and the law places an affirmative burden on employers to “reasonably” accommodate religious expression and practice. Thus, employers now face the conundrum of how to prevent discrimination and harassment while leaving room for the reasonable exercise of religion as more employees of all faiths insist on bringing their beliefs to the office or the shop floor.