Antiochus Epiphanes
December 7th, 2005, 10:32 AM
Great article of special interest to Creators.
Companies fall prey to lawsuits as religious diversity grows in US
>By Patti Waldmeir in Washington
>Published: December 7 2005 02:00 | Last updated: December 7 2005 02:00
>>
At the centre of the company organisation chart is Jesus: all department heads report to Him. Preferred Management, a home healthcare company in the Midwest, is an example of what has become an increasingly common phenomenon in America: employers and employees who bring religion into the workplace.
Religious diversity in the American workplace has increased dramatically since a wave of immigrants came to the US in the 1990s. But legal experts say greater diversity has also brought more lawsuits under America's tough job discrimination laws.
"More workers are expressing religious views at work … and more employers are bringing their religion into the workplace," said Peggy Mastroianni, associate legal counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the US employment watchdog. Complaints of religious discrimination received by the commission have risen by 27 per cent since 2000.
The war in Iraq has focused attention on cases involving Muslims. But the issue goes well beyond Islam: US companies also employ more evangelicals, more members of African and Asian Christian sects, and more agnostics and atheists than ever before, legal experts say.
That had its advantages, Ms Mastroianni said last week at a conference of employment lawyers organised by Ali-Aba (the American Law Institute-American Bar Association). "On Christmas, the Muslims and Jews can work and on Muslim and Jewish holidays the Christians can work," she said. But it can also cause tensions if employees feel that their boss - or their co-worker - is harassing or penalising them for their religious beliefs, refusing to accommodate their religious needs, or even trying to convert them.
EEOC v Preferred Management was one such case: the owner required all employees to conform to her fundamentalist religious beliefs. She refused to hire a Unitarian and required another employee to read the Bible daily as part of a company-mandated self-improvement plan.
Employees were asked to share their religious experiences in public meetings and, according to the EEOC, those with "non-conforming religious views" were chastised as being "sinful, weak" or "not walking in God's path".
The jury found that the owner's attempts to impose her beliefs on employees violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits job discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. The company had to pay $250,000 (€208,000, £147,000) in punitive damages and $20,000 each in compensatory damages to seven employees.
There are also a growing number of complaints brought by employees who claim their religious rights have been compromised at work - either because employers fail to give them time off for religious observance, or prohibit forms of dress tied to their religion.
The biggest recent court ruling in this area involved Costco, the wholesaling chain, which sacked an employee for displaying her body piercings at the cash register.
She claimed this was required by her religion, the Church of Body Modification. Costco said this violated its clean-cut brand image and insisted she cover piercings with a Band-Aid. A federal appeals court ruled in favour of Costco for sacking her - because she refused to co-operate with the Band-Aid plan.
Though the court ducked the issue, the real dispute was whether her religious beliefs were genuine, legal experts say. According to Peter Panken, an employment law expert at Epstein, Becker & Green, courts sometimes struggle to determine what constitutes genuine religious belief.
He says the Ku Klux Klan would not qualify as a religion - but a white supremacist belief in a system called "Creativity" might, according to one recent ruling.
Generally, a religious belief is "whatever the plaintiff alleges that it is", he says, but adds that a preference for cat food definitely does not meet the criteria (despite one recent attempt to make such a case).
But sometimes, when employers allow workers to express their religious beliefs at work, this can cause problems with co-workers.
One case involved an employee who insisted, for religious reasons, on wearing an anti-abortion button showing a foetus.
A federal appeals court found that the job discrimination law did not protect an employee who wanted to "impose (her) religious views on others".
Courts have split, however, on whether employers can prevent employees from evangelising the customers: for example, by using the phrase "have a blessed day".
Ms Mastroianni recommended that the best way to avoid lawsuits over religion in the workplace was for companies to make sure their harassment policy covered religion, and to act immediately if they knew that an employee's religious expression was unwelcome to others.
But legal experts say they expect the number of such lawsuits to continue to grow.
>
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3c6b9644-66c7-11da-884a-0000779e2340.html
Companies fall prey to lawsuits as religious diversity grows in US
>By Patti Waldmeir in Washington
>Published: December 7 2005 02:00 | Last updated: December 7 2005 02:00
>>
At the centre of the company organisation chart is Jesus: all department heads report to Him. Preferred Management, a home healthcare company in the Midwest, is an example of what has become an increasingly common phenomenon in America: employers and employees who bring religion into the workplace.
Religious diversity in the American workplace has increased dramatically since a wave of immigrants came to the US in the 1990s. But legal experts say greater diversity has also brought more lawsuits under America's tough job discrimination laws.
"More workers are expressing religious views at work … and more employers are bringing their religion into the workplace," said Peggy Mastroianni, associate legal counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the US employment watchdog. Complaints of religious discrimination received by the commission have risen by 27 per cent since 2000.
The war in Iraq has focused attention on cases involving Muslims. But the issue goes well beyond Islam: US companies also employ more evangelicals, more members of African and Asian Christian sects, and more agnostics and atheists than ever before, legal experts say.
That had its advantages, Ms Mastroianni said last week at a conference of employment lawyers organised by Ali-Aba (the American Law Institute-American Bar Association). "On Christmas, the Muslims and Jews can work and on Muslim and Jewish holidays the Christians can work," she said. But it can also cause tensions if employees feel that their boss - or their co-worker - is harassing or penalising them for their religious beliefs, refusing to accommodate their religious needs, or even trying to convert them.
EEOC v Preferred Management was one such case: the owner required all employees to conform to her fundamentalist religious beliefs. She refused to hire a Unitarian and required another employee to read the Bible daily as part of a company-mandated self-improvement plan.
Employees were asked to share their religious experiences in public meetings and, according to the EEOC, those with "non-conforming religious views" were chastised as being "sinful, weak" or "not walking in God's path".
The jury found that the owner's attempts to impose her beliefs on employees violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits job discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. The company had to pay $250,000 (€208,000, £147,000) in punitive damages and $20,000 each in compensatory damages to seven employees.
There are also a growing number of complaints brought by employees who claim their religious rights have been compromised at work - either because employers fail to give them time off for religious observance, or prohibit forms of dress tied to their religion.
The biggest recent court ruling in this area involved Costco, the wholesaling chain, which sacked an employee for displaying her body piercings at the cash register.
She claimed this was required by her religion, the Church of Body Modification. Costco said this violated its clean-cut brand image and insisted she cover piercings with a Band-Aid. A federal appeals court ruled in favour of Costco for sacking her - because she refused to co-operate with the Band-Aid plan.
Though the court ducked the issue, the real dispute was whether her religious beliefs were genuine, legal experts say. According to Peter Panken, an employment law expert at Epstein, Becker & Green, courts sometimes struggle to determine what constitutes genuine religious belief.
He says the Ku Klux Klan would not qualify as a religion - but a white supremacist belief in a system called "Creativity" might, according to one recent ruling.
Generally, a religious belief is "whatever the plaintiff alleges that it is", he says, but adds that a preference for cat food definitely does not meet the criteria (despite one recent attempt to make such a case).
But sometimes, when employers allow workers to express their religious beliefs at work, this can cause problems with co-workers.
One case involved an employee who insisted, for religious reasons, on wearing an anti-abortion button showing a foetus.
A federal appeals court found that the job discrimination law did not protect an employee who wanted to "impose (her) religious views on others".
Courts have split, however, on whether employers can prevent employees from evangelising the customers: for example, by using the phrase "have a blessed day".
Ms Mastroianni recommended that the best way to avoid lawsuits over religion in the workplace was for companies to make sure their harassment policy covered religion, and to act immediately if they knew that an employee's religious expression was unwelcome to others.
But legal experts say they expect the number of such lawsuits to continue to grow.
>
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3c6b9644-66c7-11da-884a-0000779e2340.html