When it comes to religious discrimination, there are many forms associated with it. If you strongly feel that you have been tangled into a work-related dispute or issue that is specifically targeting your religion, then it is time that you look for a lawyer for religious discrimination LA.
According to the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal agencies are prohibited from discriminating against employees or prospective candidates because of their religion or religious beliefs in the process of firing, hiring, promotion, or demotion. It is the responsibility of the federal agencies to respect and accommodate the religious practices of beliefs of all the employees as unacceptance of it would cause different repercussions.
As per the definition mentioned in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), religious beliefs include theistic beliefs which mean those who have a faith or belief in God along with non-theistic morals. But as we all know that religion is all about the ideas of life, death, and its purpose and the social-economical and political philosophies are more of a personal choice and cannot be counted as religious beliefs. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the employer to respect the beliefs, whatsoever it may be of the employees, and never take them in the middle of any professional decision related to that employee.
Here are the rights as an employee that you have against religious discrimination.
Religious Beliefs
Let’s start from the basics here. A belief is called religious if it has the space for religion in that person’s scheme of believing things. As mentioned earlier, it is about the ideas of life, death, and purpose, a place that has “God” in it in the traditional manner. Being an employee you are protected from any religion that you believe in along with the teaching of the faith to which you claim your commitment is completely protected by the law. For instance, if you believed in issues related to gay rights, women’s ordination is different than that of the Vatican as you belong to a Catholic Church, then you are still protected from all kinds of discrimination at your workplace. Those are your beliefs, and you have a right to protect them. Another instance given here can be if you believe that your religion requires you to have a head covering, your employer or anyone at your workplace has no right to discriminate against you for that.
Sincere beliefs
Your rights against religious discrimination are always protected if your beliefs regarding your religion are being motivated with sincerity. No one has the right to discriminate against you if your religious beliefs are sincerely held. For example, if you have a tattoo and it belongs to your religion and your religious beliefs, but it is against the dress code of the workplace, then your employer will determine whether your belief is sincere or not and then take the action. And if he believes that your motive is only to keep that tattoo because of your religious beliefs, then no one has the right to discriminate against you because of that.
Religious discrimination can take serious forms and that is why knowing your rights is a crucial step towards it. For instance, an employer might refuse to hire candidates who are Hindu or Jewish and might promote Baptists because of his vested interest in that religion. Even for those employees who do not believe in any religion, they can be treated differently if they refuse to follow the religious beliefs or faith of the employer. The law restricts all employers to discriminate against any employee who believes in a religion or is an atheist.
The employer must offer religious accommodation that would allow the employee to practice their religion. The religious accommodation includes scheduling changes, job reassignments, shift substitutions, modification to workplace policies, practices, etc.
In all of this, you must always speak to a lawyer for religious discrimination LA who can explain to you everything important when it comes to religious discrimination. Along with your rights, also comes the duty to sincerely follow and protect them from time to time.
