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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
IN THE WORKPLACE
Sponsored link.
Quotation:
"My great hope is that we can enter this new century and this new
millennium as the most successful multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious
democracy the world has ever known. We will get there through efforts like this
-- men, women from all walks of life coming together to respect and celebrate
our differences while uniting around the ideals that bind us together, more
importantly, as one America." President Bill Clinton, 1997-AUG-14, at
the introduction of the "Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious
Expression in the Federal Workplace," 3
Freedom of religion takes many forms in the workplace. For example:
 | Sikhs may feel a religious obligation to wear a turban at work. |
| Male Muslims may wish to wear a beard. |
| Wiccans may want to work on a Christian holiday in exchange for having one
of their Sabbats off work. |
| A Jew might want to leave work early on Friday night to attend religious
services, in exchange for working overtime earlier in the week. |
| A Christian, employed on rotating shifts, might wish to have every Sunday
off work. |
As in most cases of civil rights, conflicts sometimes arise between:
| an employee's right to practice their religion, and |
| an employers right to conduct his/her business as they wish, and not be
burdened by excess cost due to their employees' religious needs. |
The balance between these two rights has shifted in the past and may change
in the future:
| 1972: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was
modified to require all medium and large companies to accommodate the
religious needs of their employees, except in those cases where the cost
would be prohibitive. Companies with 15 or fewer employees were exempted
from the law. 10 |
| 1995 & 1996: Bills covering freedom of religion in the
workplace were introduced to Congress. No action was taken, mostly because
of time constraints. 5 |
| 1977: The U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the clause of the
Civil Rights Act referring to workplace religious freedom. They gutted the
law, allowed widespread employer exemption, even in cases involving
relatively miniscule cost or difficulty to the employer. |
| In 1997-JUL, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Dan Coats (R-IN)
introduced a bill called the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 1997 (WRFA;
S. 1124).9 A House version was introduced as H.R. 2848
by Rep. Goodling. This would require employers to accommodate their
employee's religious practices unless there was "significant
difficulty or expense" involved. The bill failed to be passed. |
| In 1997-AUG the Clinton administration's Office of Personnel
Management issued guidelines which cover all civilian-branch
employees of the Federal government. 7 The guidelines were
prepared by a wide-ranging coalition of groups, including such diverse
organizations as the People for the American Way, the Southern
Baptist Convention and the Christian Coalition. The
guidelines clarify that:
 | "Federal employees may engage in personal religious expression
to the greatest extent possible, consistent with workplace efficiency
and the requirements of law." |
| "...federal employers may not discriminate in employment on
the basis of religion." |
| All government agencies "must reasonably accommodate
employees' religious practices." 3 |
President Clinton sent a memorandum on these guidelines to the heads of
Federal departments and agencies. He commented that the principles in the
guidelines are all "but variants or applications of a single rule of
neutrality and fairness -- that agencies shall treat employees with the same
respect and consideration, regardless of their religious beliefs. Whether by
allowing religious speech, preventing religious coercion or harassment, or
making accommodations to religious practice, the federal government must act
to ensure that the federal workplace is generous to followers of all
religions, as well as to followers of none." 11
The Department of the Treasury published excerpts from the
Guidelines with numerous examples of their application. 4 |
| 1998-JAN: The WRFA was introduced in the House as H.R. 2948 by
William Goodling. It was introduced in the Senate as S. 1124 by John Kerry
(D-MA) and Dan Coats (R-IN). 8 It was endorsed by the Agudath
Israel of America; American Jewish Committee; American Jewish Congress;
Americans for Democratic Action; Anti-Defamation League; Baptist Joint
Committee on Public Affairs; Center for Jewish and Christian Values; Central
Conference of American Rabbis; Christian Legal Society; Church of
Scientology International; Council on Religious Freedom; General Conference
of Seventh-day Adventists; Guru Gobind Singh Foundation; Hadassah-WZOA;
International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists; Jewish Council for
Public Affairs; National Association of Evangelicals; National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the USA; National Council of Jewish Women;
National Jewish Coalition; National Jewish Coalition; National Jewish
Democratic Council; National Sikh Center; North American Council for Muslim
Women; People for the American Way; Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington
Office; Rabbinical Council of America; Southern Baptist Convention Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission; Traditional Values Coalition; Union of
American Hebrew Congregations; Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations;
United Church of Christ Office for Church in Society; United Methodist
Church General Board on Church and Society; and United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism.The bills did not pass. |
| 1999-SEP-29: WRFA was re-introduced into the Senate. Senator
Brownback commented: "This legislation is carefully crafted and
strikes an appropriate balance between religious accommodation, while
ensuring that an undue burden is not forced upon American businesses."
Senator Kerry hopes that the bill will be passed by the 106th congress. He
notes that if the Congress votes in favor of the bill, it would simply be
restoring the intent of the 1972 legislation. The senate bill, S.1668, has
been referred to the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.
It has a total of 5 sponsors. |
The Coalition for Religious Freedom in the Workplace is promoting the
bill. It includes 37 organizations representing various wings of Christianity,
Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. The Coalition apparently does not have a web page.
References:
- "Religious liberty: The Workplace Religious Freedom Act,"
People for the American Way, at: http://www.pfaw.org/caphill/liberty.shtml#WRFA
- "ADL Issue Brief", Anti-Defamation League, at: http://www.adl.org/presrele/CvlRt_32/3170_32.html
(bottom of essay)
- "Remarks by the president on religious freedom in the federal
workplace," 1997-AUG-14, at: http://www.onr.navy.mil/onr/PrezRemarks.htm
or http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/civil/religion.txt
- "Legal Update," Department of the Treasury, at: http://www.ustreas.gov/fletc/leg9704.htm
(Second topic)
- Daniel Kurtzman, "Bills [sic] calls for religious freedom in
workplace," Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Online at: http://www.jewishaz.com/1997b/970808/bill.shtml
- Julia Spoor, "Note, Go tell it on the mountain, but keep it out of
the office: Religious harassment in the workplace," 31 Val. U. L.
Rev. 971, Valparaiso University Law Review (1997-Summer)
- "Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the
Federal Workplace," at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19970819-3275.html
- W.F. Goodling, "Protection of religious freedom in the workplace,"
Remarks on the introduction of HR 2948 on 1998-JAN-27. Search:
http://thomas.loc.gov
- Kerry, "Workplace Religious Freedom Act," Remarks on the
introduction of the bill to the Senate on 1997-JUL-31. Search:
http://thomas.loc.gov
- "Bill would boost protections for worker's faith practices,"
The Report from the Capital, Baptist Joint Committee, Vol. 54, No. 20,
1999-OCT-12.
- WJ Clinton, "Memorandum for the heads of executive departments and
agencies," at: http://w3.trib.com/FACT/1st.pres.rel.work.html
- Social Security SSN has a list of links to websites which discuss
freedom of religion. See:
http://www.socialsecurityssn.com/
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