Discrimination in employment decisions on the basis of religion is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, the protections accorded to job applicants and employees based on their religions by Title VII are different in some ways than the protections that Title VII accords to employees based on the characteristics discussed in prior lessons–race, color and gender.First, Title VII does not provide absolute protection from discrimination based on religion. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution
(1) prohibits government from establishing religion, and
(2) forbids government from prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
Based on the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, Title VII expressly exempts religious organizations from its prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of religion. As the Amos case discussed in the text points out, this exemption extends to all activities of religious organization employers, even when they are engaged in secular non-profit activities rather than religious practice. Similarly, under Section 703(e)(2) of Title VII, schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions that are substantially or wholly owned, supported, controlled or managed by a particular religion or religious organization are free to limit employment to members of that religion–in effect, religion can be a BFOQ for being employed by such a school or institution. These special provisions of the law exempting religious organizations from Title VII regulation, so far as religious discrimination is concerned, have been held by Congress and the courts to be necessary to prevent government from interfering with the free exercise of their religions by these organizations.
Second, unlike the other Title VII protected categories of race, color, gender and national origin, religion is not an immutable characteristic. To complicate matters even further, a person’s religion is an individual choice that may involve only subjective beliefs unaccompanied by any observable behaviors. So how does a person qualify for Title VII protections based on religion? Section 701 of Title VII defines religion as including “… all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.” It is often difficult for employers to know that an individuals is entitled to protection based on religion and employees must make their needs known to their employer.
The third, and most important, distinction between religion and other categories protected by Title VII is that an employer is affirmatively required to make reasonable accommodations when an employee’s religious beliefs or practices come into conflict with policies or rules imposed by an employer. That is, the employer has a duty to attempt to find a way to avoid the conflict while allowing the employee to continue to be an employee. The limit of the employer’s duty to reasonably accommodate a religious belief or practice is where accommodation would result in undue hardship–that is, be too onerous for the employer to be reasonably expected to bear.
It is in the last area, to what extent must an employer accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of an employee, where employers are faced with most day-to-day questions that must be resolved involving religious discrimination under Title VII.