EEOC Issues New Guidance on Religious Dress and Grooming in the Workplace

Failing to make a reasonable religious accommodation to your dress and grooming policy can be costly. Just ask United Galaxy Inc., a car dealership in Little Falls, New Jersey. Late last year, the company agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve allegations that it declined to hire a Sikh applicant after he refused to shave his beard for religious reasons.

In total, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’ received 3,721 charges alleging religious discrimination in FY 2013. The agency has further indicated that such cases are a growing priority.

To avoid running afoul of federal employment law, employers should carefully read the EEOC’s latest guidance on how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to religious dress and grooming practices, and what steps employers can take to meet their legal responsibilities in this area.

Employers must generally make exceptions to their usual policies or preferences to allow applicants and employees to observe religious dress and grooming practices, unless doing so presents an undue hardship. As detailed by the EEOC, examples of religious dress and grooming practices include:

• Wearing religious clothing or articles (e.g., a Muslim hijab (headscarf), a Sikh turban, or a Christian cross);
• Observing a religious prohibition against wearing certain garments (e.g., a Muslim, Pentecostal Christian, or Orthodox Jewish woman’s practice of not wearing pants or short skirts), or
• Adhering to shaving or hair length observances (e.g., Sikh uncut hair and beard, Rastafarian dreadlocks, or Jewish peyes (sidelocks)).

To further illustrate when employers must make religious accommodations, the guidance includes 16 questions and answers, along with illustrative examples. Key topics that are addressed include: determining whether an asserted religious practice is sincerely held; assigning an employee to a non-customer contact position; addressing workplace safety, security, or health concerns; and preventing retaliation. We encourage all employers to review the examples and contact an experienced labor attorney with any concerns.

If you have any questions about religious discrimination claims or would like to discuss your company’s employee policies and procedures, please contact me or the Scarinci Hollenbeck Labor and Employment Law attorney with whom you work.