Under federal law, employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees or applicants based on their religion. Employers must also make reasonable accommodations to allow employees to practice their religious beliefs, unless it would cause the employer undue hardship.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court revised the definition of “undue hardship” in religious discrimination claims under federal law. Below we'll discuss the new rules set out by the Court.
Religious Discrimination at Work: Who Does the Law Cover?
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal law that prohibits workplace discrimination based on religion. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Many states also have laws banning religious discrimination in the workplace, and some apply to smaller employers.
Select your state from the list at Your Rights Against Workplace Discrimination and Harassment to learn more about your rights under state law.
Religious Discrimination: Prohibited Practices
Under Title VII, your employer may not discriminate based on religion in any aspect of employment, including interviews, hiring, benefits, promotions, transfers, discipline, and termination.
This means your employer may not, for example:
- refuse to hire or promote members of a particular religious group
- require all employees to participate in religious or spiritual practices at work, or
- fire employees who are atheists.
Title VII also prohibits harassment based on religion, such as teasing and belittling comments based on your religious beliefs.
Your employer may not retaliate against you for complaining of religious harassment or discrimination, whether you complain within the company or to an outside agency, such as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (For more information, see our article on filing an EEOC Claim for Retaliation.)
Workplace Discrimination: How Are Religion and Religious Belief Defined?
Not all strongly held beliefs are religious and protected from discrimination. To qualify, your beliefs must be sincere and meaningful, and must occupy a place in your life similar to that held by “God” in a traditional religion.
Your beliefs must encompass ultimate ideas about life, purpose, and death that are as strong as traditional religious beliefs.
Political or economic beliefs are not religious, no matter how strongly and sincerely held. Moral and ethical beliefs may count as religious for purposes of Title VII, but courts typically will look for some evidence of belief in a divine power to make beliefs religious.
Are Employers Required to Make Reasonable Accommodations for Religious Beliefs and Practices?
Under Title VII, employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations to allow them to practice their religions. A reasonable accommodation is a change to an employer’s usual policies, schedules, or requirements that will allow an employee to engage in religious observances and practices. Examples of reasonable accommodation include:
- allowing flexible work schedules so that an employee can attend religious ceremonies, pray, or break a fast
- providing floating or optional holidays to allow an employee to observe a Sabbath or religious holiday
- permitting voluntary shift changes or work assignment substitutions among employees, or
- modifying a dress code policy to allow employees to wear religious garb or items, or to observe religious grooming requirements (such as not cutting one’s hair).
If you need an accommodation for a religious reason, you should let your employer know what you need and why. Give plenty of notice, so your employer will have time to consider the change you want. Your employer must provide a reasonable accommodation unless doing so would create undue hardship.
What Is Undue Hardship?
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Groff v. DeJoy (600 U.S. 447) clarified the meaning of “undue hardship” in Title VII religious discrimination claims.
In general, whether your employer must grant your requested accommodation will depend on how much it will cost them or affect their business. This could be a financial cost or something else that disrupts business activities or impacts other employees.
The Supreme Court’s ruling addresses situations where an accommodation would create a relatively small hardship for an employer. Examples of scenarios that would probably qualify as undue hardships regardless of the recent ruling might include:
- forcing other employees to change their work schedules to accommodate your religious practices
- violating the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or seniority system to accommodate your religious practices
- allowing you to wear religious clothing that poses a safety hazard, such as wearing flowing garments around heavy machinery; or
- taking other actions that would directly infringe on other employees’ legal rights.
The Previous Rule: “More Than De Minimis”
Before 2023, the bar was rather low for an employer to show that undue hardship would result from a requested accommodation. Almost anything more than a minor administrative cost could qualify as an undue hardship.
The Supreme Court established a rule for undue hardship claims in a 1977 decision, Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison (432 U.S. 63). The court used the legal term “de minimis,” which means something so small or minor that it is almost insignificant. The rule was that anything more than a de minimis expense or inconvenience could count as an undue hardship.
For example, suppose an employee requested time off from work for a religious observance. Granting the request would result in the employer paying another employee extra overtime to cover their shift. Even if this would only happen once, and would only cost the employer a small amount, the employer could have claimed an undue hardship based on the Hardison rule.
The New Rule: “Substantial Increased Costs”
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Groff v. DeJoy (600 U.S. 447) keeps most of the definition for “undue hardship” that the court established in Hardison but gets rid of the “more than de minimis” standard.
The new rule is that a requested accommodation poses an undue hardship if it would cause an employer to have “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” This standard helps employees by requiring employers to provide more evidence that an accommodation will create a burden for them.
Let’s apply this definition to the example of the employee who asks for time off for a religious observance. This probably would not be an undue hardship if the employer only has to pay overtime to another employee once or twice a year.
But if the employer would have to pay additional overtime more often, such as weekly, that could be a “substantial increased cost” that affects their business.
Is “Undue Hardship” Different in Title VII Claims and Americans with Disabilities Act Claims?
The term “undue hardship” appears in both:
- religious discrimination claims under Title VII; and
- disability discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
The two laws use different definitions for “undue hardship.” The Supreme Court specifically declined to apply the standard it uses for the ADA to Title VII in Groff.
Under the ADA, an employee’s requested accommodation would create an undue hardship if the employer would face “significant difficulty or expense.” This is different from Title VII’s “substantial increased costs” standard.
The most important difference between the two standards involves the purpose of the two statutes. While Title VII protects employees’ ability to observe religious practices, the ADA helps employees with disabilities function in the workplace. Reasonable accommodations for disabilities can be more expensive because of employees’ specific needs. Without those accommodations, employees might be unable to do their jobs at all.
How to Prove Religious Discrimination at Work
As with any type of workplace discrimination, the key to proving your case is to document it to the extent possible. If the discriminatory conduct includes offensive comments or jokes, make a record of who said what at the time it occurs. Do this every time it happens. Also keep a copy of any offensive emails, documents, or photos that tend to prove your case.
If you're being harassed by a coworker and you've asked your employer to put a stop to it, make a note of when you spoke with your employer and what was said.
If your employer has denied your request for religious accommodation (for example, the ability to wear religious clothing), get the denial in writing.
Remedies for Violations
If your employer discriminates against you on the basis of your religion, you may be entitled to several different types of relief. For example, you might receive back pay or front pay if you lost wages—or will continue to lose wages—due to discrimination.
Or, if you were denied a position due to discrimination, the court might order your employer to hire you for a certain position, promote you to a certain position, or reinstate you to your old job. Title VII also allows you to recover your attorneys’ fees.
What to Do If You've Experienced Religious Discrimination at Work
If you believe that you've been discriminated against on the basis of religion in your employment, an employment discrimination attorney can explain your options.