Salinas, USA - According to statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charges filed by employees who believe that they have been discriminated against because of their religion are on the rise, while complaints based on race, sex and age are declining.
One of the more recent cases, EEOC v. Pilot Travel Centers, alleges that the employer discriminated against a maintenance employee on the basis of religion when it discharged him for refusing to shave his beard, which he wore as part of his religious practices. The defendant's general manager had hired the employee and reasonably accommodated him by permitting him to wear his beard even though the company had a policy banning facial hair. When the company's regional manager discovered the bearded employee, however, he directed the general manager to fire him for violating the policy.
The EEOC demanded $250,000 in damages from the employer for violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but the employer refused the demand. The EEOC sued the company in federal court, but the case was settled before the trial began. The settlement agreement provided that the company must:
# Pay the employee $62,000.
# Not engage in religious discrimination or retaliation.
# Distribute a policy statement regarding reasonable accommodation of religious beliefs to all of its general managers and to all the regional managers to whom they report.
# Require all managers to sign statements certifying that they received and read the settlement agreement.
Even though the employee in this case was not discriminated against in the classic sense of the word, i.e., treated differently from other employees, under Title VII, the employer had an obligation to reasonably accommodate the employee's religion. The employer's failure to do so resulted in a $62,000 charge of discrimination. An exception to the rule would have cost much less.
This case is a good example of the need for employers to train their management employees that discrimination against any employee because of race, age, sex, gender, color, ancestry, national origin, marital status, mental or physical disability, medical condition, pregnancy, sexual orientation or, as in this case, religion, is illegal and expensive.