Tempting as it might be to require documentation from a religious authority to verify that the employee is a practicing member, employees are not required to provide notes from their clergy. Furthermore, an employee’s firmly held religious, ethical or moral beliefs may not be associated with a specific organized religion, and that does not alter the possibility that employers may be required to honor an employee’s religious accommodation request.
According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects employees from religious discrimination, “Employers must reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices by allowing: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.”
A religious practice or belief is further defined in Title VII regulations as “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held. … The fact that no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not accept such belief will not determine whether the belief is a religious belief of the employee or prospective employee.”
Therefore, an employee’s religious accommodation request must communicate to the employer that there is a conflict between the job requirements and the employee’s firmly held beliefs and/or religious practices, regardless of whether the employee is a member of an organized religion or if the employee’s practices and beliefs totally align with those of the organized religion with which the employee identifies.
Employees are accountable for supporting accommodation requests with information about their bona fide religious beliefs and practices while outlining the manner in which conflict arises and is impacted when performing their job duties.
SHRM has developed a Request for Religious Accommodation Form, which includes an employee affirmation while documenting employer’s good faith efforts to accommodate.
The employee and employer are encouraged to use an interactive process for determining reasonable religious accommodations. The employee must be permitted to do so free from intimidation, reprisal or overly intrusive inquiries.
Please Note: This material is provided as general information and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice. National members may contact the Knowledge Center.
Express Request
SHRM’s Express Request (ER) service allows members to request and receive resources on over 100 timely HR topics via e-mail. AvailableExpress Requests are listed on the web site, and responses are sent immediately.
