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The Civil Rights Act, Title VII 1964 legislation protects the religious sovereignty of employees in public and private sectors. This title forbids prejudice and intolerance based on race, color, and masculinity/femininity, religion or nationality. The religious practices can be defined as the “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views” (“Working on the Sabbath/Sunday”).
As far as the reasonable accommodation for religious practices is concerned, the Article VII requires employer to sensibly have room for the workers’ religious beliefs except if such adjustment would consequently result in excessive and unnecessary suffering to the owner or company. "Accommodation" here implies that company’s or owner’s detachment and neutral stance is not as much as necessary. If defined simply, it is obligatory for a company or a boss to accommodate a worker’s observance and devotion to the main beliefs and values of his/her religion except in situations where any kind of accommodation will, in fact, get in the way of the company’s operations or employer’s work (“Working on the Sabbath/Sunday”).
For instance, if it is not possible for a worker to work on Sunday because of the religious beliefs that he/she holds from the bottom of his/her heart and applies for a leave, it is a complete obligation for the employer to accommodate the employee’s genuinely held spiritual values on condition that the business or work is not caused any harm or loss. If it is possible for a person to arrange for a replacement on Sunday and there can be no hurdle in the smooth running of business, it becomes mandatory for the employer or company to make room for the employee’s religious convictions and practices (“Working on the Sabbath/Sunday”).
The two religious practices that could easily be accommodated by management for employees who are Orthodox Jews without any hardship for the company are the Sabbath observance and wearing of Kippah i.e. a rounded skullcap. A Sabbath observer can be allowed by the employer to do more work on Monday till Thursday making it possible for him/her to go home earlier on Friday for the observation of Sabbath. Similarly, wearing Kippah change the appearance of the employee and would not bring any harm to the company or owner in any way. However, it would be difficult for the owners to allow Jews to study the Torah during working hours and separate men and women for prayers as there could be only one room for prayers (Kasdan).
The two religious practices that could easily be accommodated by management for employees who are Hindus without any hardship for the company are the celebration of Divali and wearing traditional Hindu dresses. However, as a majority of Hindus do not consume food that contains fish or meat, eggs, alcohol, garlic, beef etc., it can be difficult for the employers to arrange food that does not contain these eatables. Similarly, it could be difficult for the employers to allow Hindus to bring Holy Scriptures at the workplace and spend time studying those (“Culture and Religion in the Workplace,” 2001).
The two religious practices that could easily be accommodated by management for employees who follow The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints without any hardship for the company are casual leaves as the followers of this religion do not have any special holiday. Another easily accommodated practice is that of abstinence from consumption of tea, coffee, alcohol etc. There are no practices of the followers that are difficult for the employers to accommodate.
References
Culture and Religion in the Workplace. (2001). Reading Room. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/pre2005/internaladmin/equalitydiversity/culture-and-religion-in-the-workplace.pdf
Kasdan, I. (n.d.). Jewish Law - Law & Policy. Jewish Law - Examining Halacha, Jewish Issues and Secular Law. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.jlaw.com/LawPolicy/accommodation.html
Working on the Sabbath/Sunday | American Center for Law and Justice ACLJ. (n.d.). American Center for Law and Justice ACLJ. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://aclj.org/workplace-rights/working-on-the-sabbath-sunday
