Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and requires employers to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless to do so would pose an undue hardship.  For its part, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including work-related religion discrimination.  In this regard, EEOC attorneys announced on August 16, 2011 that a moving and storage company will pay $30,000 and furnish substantial equitable relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/8-16-11f.cfm .

In the lawsuit, EEOC attorneys charged that the company violated federal law when it refused to hire a Rastafarian, because he wore his hair in dreadlocks.  According to the EEOC, the Rastafarian holds the sincere religious belief that as a Rastafarian he should not cut his hair in honor of Jah, the name given to the higher power in that faith.  An EEOC attorney stated, in part, that “[e]mployers need to understand their obligation to balance employees’ needs and rights to practice their religion with the conduct of their business.” 

In addition to monetary relief, the consent decree in the case requires that the company provide significant remedial relief, including, for example, implementing written policies and procedures for its work sites prohibiting religious discrimination and providing anti-discrimination training to all managers, supervisors, and employees at all five of the company’s locations.

In Texas, Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit, under Texas and federal law, employers from discriminating against people because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment.  As described in the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Employment Discrimination Fact Sheets at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/crd/facts.html , the law requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless to do so would create an undue hardship upon the employer.  Flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers are examples provided by the TWC of accommodating an employee’s religious beliefs.  In addition to prohibiting religion discrimination in employment, Texas and federal law also make it unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees for opposing and reporting employment discrimination based upon religion.

For its own part, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency charged with enforcing federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination, including religious discrimination.  In a July 15, 2011 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/7-15-11a.cfm , the EEOC announced a finding by a federal court in which the federal court agreed that a national retail clothing company committed religious discrimination against a 17-year-old Muslim girl.  EEOC lawyers allege in the religious discrimination lawsuit that the retail clothing company failed to hire the girl for a sales position because she wore a hijab, or head scarf, in observance of her sincerely held religious beliefs.  The Court found that the company refused to hire her in June 2008 for a position at one of its stores because she was wearing the hijab when she was interviewed and this violated the company’s “look policy.”  The Court, noting that the company had allowed numerous exceptions to its “look policy,” including head scarf exceptions, found that the retail company had “completely failed to consider the impact, if any, of those exceptions” and that its evidence was thus too speculative.  An EEOC trial lawyer quoted in the Press Release said: “The Court has sent a clear message to employers: that the denial of a request for a reasonable accommodation of an employee’s or applicant’s religious beliefs must be based on demonstrated facts, not guesswork or speculation.” 

More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether employment discrimination based upon religion occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, employees subjected to religious discrimination may contact the EEOC, the TWC and a lawyer to determine if a religion discrimination charge and lawsuit is appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential Texas employment religious discrimination claim.

A company in Plano, Texas has been charged with religion discrimination in a lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys, according to a posting at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/6-27-11.cfm .  As alleged in the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Press Release, the Texas company violated federal law when it failed to accommodate a store manager’s religious beliefs and then fired him because of his religion.  More specifically, the store manager is a Seventh Day Adventist who decided in June of 2006 to reaffirm and strictly practice his religion, which includes a religious tenet that he not work on his Sabbath, Saturday, before sundown.  His request to be excused from working Saturdays before sundown was denied, but, afterward, he was transferred to a different location where the company granted a religious accommodation until a company realignment occurred and he was again informed he would have to work Saturdays.  When he refused to do so based on his religious belief, the company fired him.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to sincerely held religious beliefs of employees as long as doing so poses no undue hardship on the employer.  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including employment related religious discrimination.

EEOC attorneys who filed the religion discrimination lawsuit against the Texas company filed the case only after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement with the Plano-based company.  The EEOC lawsuit seeks back pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief.  Ann EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release stated, in part, as follows: “Employers must remember their duty to provide an accommodation to the sincerely held religious beliefs of employees and applicants.” 

Whether Sabbath Day employment discrimination against Seventh Day Adventists occurs in Beaumont, Dallas, Houston or elsewhere, Texas employees subjected to religious discrimination and harassment may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a religion discrimination lawsuit is appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential claim.

According to a posting made by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its website at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/11-18-10.cfm , the number of religious discrimination charges filed with the EEOC has increased dramatically over the last decade.  In this regard, the EEOC announced on November 18, 2010 that a privately held regional provider of telecommunications services in the United States agreed to pay $66,000 and provide other equitable relief to settle a religious discrimination and harassment lawsuit brought by EEOC attorneys on behalf of company employees who alleged they were regularly subjected to harassment of their Judaism religion.  As stated in the EEOC Press Release, the EEOC charged that the employees complained to management about the Judaism harassment, which included anti-Semitic remarks, but the company falied to take effective remedial measures to stop the offensive conduct.  In this regard, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious harassment at the workplace.

Attorneys with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a news release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-22-10.cfm that a Houston area construction company will pay $122,500 and provide additional remedial relief to resolve an employment discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of fourteen company employees.  According to the April 22, 2010 news release, EEOC attorneys charged in the lawsuit that a supervisor of an employee of Islamic faith and East Indian descent referred to the employee as “terrorist,” “Taliban,” “Osama,” and “Al-Qaeda.”  The EEOC alleged further that the same supervisor, as well as others in company management, regularly referred to African Americans as “n—–s” and to Hispanics as “f—–g Mexicans.”  An EEOC attorney quoted in the news release stated, in part, that “Employees have an absolute right to be free from discriminatory harassment in the workplace.”

In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination, and EEOC attorneys filed the race, religious and national origin discrimination lawsuit in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas.  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether employment related harassment based on race, religion or national origin discrimination occurs in Houston or elsewhere, victims of discriminatory workplace practices may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential unlawful harassment claim.

Religious discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for the sincerely held religious beliefs of their employees as long as no undue hardship is posed against the business.  In this regard, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-30-10.cfm that agency attorneys filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against a home improvement company, alleging that the business violated federal law by requiring an employee to work on his Sabbath and by harassing and retaliating against the employee, causing him to lose hours.  According to the EEOC’s March 30, 2010 press release, the lawsuit charges that the company refused to accommodate a current employee’s sincere religious belief as a Baptist against working on the Sabbath, Sunday.  As stated in the press release, EEOC attorneys contend in the case that the employee’s written requests for religious accommodation were ignored for two months and then denied because the company asserted that it might create a hardship on other employees who might like to have Sundays off.  EEOC attorneys filed the suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement. 

The EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including religious discrimination.  Further information about the EEOC and the federal laws enforced by the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether religion based employment discrimination occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential employment discrimination claim.

In a press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-17-10.cfm , the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that Administaff, Inc., a nationwide company which provides full service human resources to small and medium-size businesses, will pay $115,000 and furnish substantial remedial relief to settle a religion harassment lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys in Maryland.  According to the March 17, 2010 press release, EEOC attorneys charged that the Kingwood, Texas company and Conn-X, LLC violated federal law by engaging in religious discrimination against employees at Conn-X’s Engelwood, Maryland office.  As stated in the press release, EEOC attorneys claimed in the harassment case that two brothers were called “dirty Jew,” “dumb Jew,” and other anti-Semitic slurs by managers and coworkers because of their religion, Judaism.  The harassment allegedly included the defacing of one brother’s vehicle with a swastika symbol.   In addition, the EEOC said the same brother was forced into a trash bin for the amusement of managers who observed them on a work surveillance camera and called it “throw the Jew in the dumpster.”  The EEOC’s lawsuit against Conn-X, LLC, a Florida-based cable service provider, remains unresolved, the EEOC said. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious harassment.  EEOC attorneys filed the harassment lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace religious harassment.  Religious discrimination charge filings nationwide with the EEOC have increased substantially over the years.  In Fiscal Year 2009, the EEOC received a record high level of 3,386 religious discrimination charges - nearly double the number of religious discrimination charges since Fiscal Year 1992.

Whether anti-Semitic Judaism religious harassment occurs at workplaces in Conroe, Kingwood, Houston or elsewhere, victims of employment related religious bias may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential religious discrimination claim.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace religious discrimination.  In this regard, an EEOC press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-10-10a.cfm states that a contract security company has been sued by the federal agency for alleged unlawful discrimination against an employee because of her religion.  According to the press release, EEOC attorneys charge in the case that the company violated federal law by firing the employee from a client location rather than accommodating her beliefs as a Mennonite Baptist that she cover her hair with a scarf.  As further stated in the press release, EEOC attorneys contend that the employee was fired when the company insisted, as a condition of her continued employment, that she remove and refrain from wearing her head scarf on the job.  In this regard, the lawsuit contends that the employee attempted to explain that her religion required her to wear the scarf, but the company refused to accommodate her and terminated her.

Such alleged misconduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees’ and applicants’ sincerely held religious beliefs as long as this does not pose an undue hardship on the business.  For further information about the EEOC and the federal laws it enforces, see www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether unlawful religion based employment discrimination occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appopriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential religious discrimination claim.

In a January 29, 2010 press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/12-18-09.cfm , the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that an assisted living company will pay $43,000 and furnish other relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the federal agency.  According to the press release, EEOC attorneys charged in the employment discrimination case that the company discriminated against a female housekeeper by firing her rather than accommodating her religious belief that she wear a Muslim head scarf or hijab outside her home.  As further stated in the press release, the company insisted that, as a condition of her continued employment, the housekeeper remove and refrain from wearing her Muslim head scarf on the job.  Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires that employers make an effort to accommodate employees’ and applicants’ sincerely held religious beliefs.  For its own part, the company denied any liability or wrongdoing.

The EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace religious discrimination.  Additional information about the EEOC and the federal laws it enforces is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether employment related religious discrimination against Muslims occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a religion based employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential Muslim employment discrimination case.

In a press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2-11-10.cfm , lawyers with the the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced filing of a federal religious discrimination lawsuit against a construction company.  According to the February 11, 2010 press release, EEOC lawyers charge in the employment discrimination lawsuit that the construction company violated federal law by denying religious accommodation to several of its employees and later firing them because of their religion.  As stated more specifically in the EEOC press release, three day laborers with the company are members of the Seventh Day Adventist faith and they all hold the sincere religious belief, based on the tenets of their faith, that they cannot work on their Sabbath, which runs from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.  EEOC lawyers claim in the case that the workers were discharged when they refused to work on their Sabbath and the company knew that these workers’ objections to working on the Sabbath was based on their religion.

In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including religious discrimination.  For its own part, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.  EEOC lawyers filed the religion discrimination lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.  An EEOC lawyer quoted in the press release stated, in part, that “Employers need to ensure that their supervisors and managers who are called upon to make decisions on employees’ requests for religious accommodation are fully knowledgeable of the employer’s obligation under Title VII.” 

Whether religion based employment discrimination occurs in Conroe, Houston, Texas City or elsewhere, victims of religious discrimination may contact the EEOC or a lawyer to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential employment discrimination claim.