Religion at Work

In religious accommodations, there’s no such thing as one size fits all. A Muslim employee might want a few minutes during the day to pray; a Jewish worker may need permission to wear a skullcap; a Seventh Day Adventist might object to working on a Saturday. Some workers may be somewhat observant of their faiths’ requirements; others may be very observant.

Whatever the request, employers should try to view it in light of work requirements and productivity. Don’t judge the legitimacy of the religious belief, Duddleston says: “You don’t get to decide whether a religious belief is sincerely held. Make it about performance issues.”

Find out exactly what the employee feels is necessary, when, and for how long. That’s true even if the employer thinks she already knows what is necessary—because she practices the same faith, or because she has dealt with religious accommodation issues for other employees of the same background. “Even if the employer thinks he or she understands the situation, they need to have a discussion,” says Steve Anderson, a partner at Faegre & Benson, a law firm based in Minneapolis.

Once you’ve talked, consider whether you can accommodate the request without disrupting your business. A company that caters parties, for instance, may not be able to let waiters take Saturdays off. A headscarf may be dangerous for a worker who deals with machinery. “There are limits to how far the employer has to go,” Anderson says. “You can have legitimate requirements.”

In many cases, though, it’s not too difficult to arrange a solution that lets employees do their jobs and follow their religious practices. Sometimes a schedule change is in order. Accommodating prayer is often as simple as rearranging break times to coincide with prayer times.

Or an employer might ask a worker to make up the time lost to religious observances. Judy Langevin, principal and chair of the employment law group at Minneapolis-based law firm Gray Plant Mooty, remembers an employee who attended a religious service every Wednesday morning, making her an hour late for work. “We asked them to let her work from ten to six instead of from nine to five on Wednesdays,” Langevin says—a solution that worked for everyone.

In another workplace, workers asked for time to pray during the day, but only during Ramadan, a holy month during which some Muslims feel the need to be particularly observant. The request created tensions with employees of other faiths, who were not taking time to pray. “The company realized that these issues were just for one month—a very important holy month,” Langevin says. “As soon as the company realized that, they said that of course they were ready to make special arrangements.” The firm held a meeting with all its employees to explain the changes to the work schedule for the next month. When workers understood that the change was temporary and designed to accommodate a particularly holy religious season, the tension dissolved.