Tackling Religious Discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is trying to help other federal agencies -- and employers around the country -- understand the rules regarding religious discrimination in the workplace. The EEOC has issued a new compliance manual on religion, addressing what the agency acknowledges are "sometimes complex workplace issues involved in balancing employees’ rights regarding religious expression with employers’ need to maintain efficient, productive workplaces."

In a question and answer fact sheet, the EEOC addresses some of the basics, such as what exactly constitutes a religion. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the agency says, the definition is pretty broad:

Religion includes not only traditional, organized religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but also religious beliefs that are new, uncommon, not part of a formal church or sect, only subscribed to by a small number of people, or that seem illogical or unreasonable to others. An employee’s belief or practice can be “religious” under Title VII even if the employee is affiliated with a religious group that does not espouse or recognize that individual’s belief or practice, or if few â€" or no â€" other people adhere to it.