Restricting an Employer’s Activities Because of Employees’ Religious Rights
An excellent example of a case where an employer’s activities were restricted and altered due to an employee’s religious beliefs is the EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. The victim of the case was a Muslim woman who the organization denied an employment opportunity because she was wearing a head scarf, which was part of her religious practice.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took the matter to court, suggesting that Abercrombie & Fitch Stores had violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The court found Abercrombie & Fitch Stores guilty of the charges and obligated it to alter its dress code policies to accommodate religious diversity. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores discriminated against a Muslim woman named Samantha Elauf by denying her an employment opportunity because of her headscarf. According to the company, the headscarf did not conform to their dress code (Akhtar, 2019). As a result, the EEOC presented the issue before the court on behalf of the woman.
Application of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Criteria to the Case
According to the EEOC’s criteria, discrimination occurs when the employee or job applicant holds a strong religious belief that contradicts an employer’s requirements (Akhtar, 2019). Moreover, the criteria stipulate that an employer should be aware of these religious beliefs and refuse to accommodate them without reasonable grounds. In this case, the EEOC argued that the woman had a bona fide religious belief in wearing a headscarf. Subsequently, Abercrombie & Fitch was aware of this belief, but the company refused to make reasonable accommodations by not hiring her because of her headscarf.
Therefore, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued that the company had engaged in religious discrimination by refusing to hire the woman. The court agreed and judged that the company had discriminated against the woman because of her religion and violated Title VII. As a result, the court ordered the company to compensate the woman for the damages caused and to revise its work policies to accommodate diverse religious practices.
Reference
Akhtar, Z. (2019). Discrimination in employment, religious symbols, and the “actual knowledge” of the employer. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 19(2), 125–149. Web.