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No employee should ever face discrimination based on their religious beliefs, not in California or not anywhere else in the US. Unfortunately, religious discrimination does occur. At Walker Law PC, we are here to help if you need a San Diego religious discrimination lawyer by your side. We have extensive experience handling complex employment law claims throughout California, and we know what it takes to investigate these incidents and help wronged employees recover compensation and justice for what they experienced.
There are laws at both the state and federal levels that protect employees from religious discrimination. Federally, we can turn to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and see that religious discrimination “treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs.” This law protects not just those who adhere to a major, established religion, but also those who hold sincere ethical or moral beliefs.
We can turn to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to see that this state also takes religious discrimination seriously. The FEHA prohibits employers from harassing or discriminating against an applicant or employee due to their actual or perceived religious beliefs.
There are various ways that religious discrimination can occur in the employment environment. This includes discrimination against employees as well as applicants for a position. Under both state and federal law, it is unlawful to discriminate due to a person’s religion, and this includes:
Any of this discrimination can occur based on a person’s religious creed, their observances, their dress, and grooming practices.
Even though there are countless ways that a California employee or applicant could experience religious discrimination, we want to give some theoretical examples of how this could come up on the job:
California law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations based on an employee’s religious beliefs or creed. This includes allowing individuals to observe holidays, dress according to their beliefs, apply their religious grooming practices, allow a person to be excused from duties that violate their beliefs, and more. Reasonable accommodations should include allowing prayer in the workplace in a private area or at regular daily intervals.
These reasonable accommodations are required by law, so long as they do not place an undue hardship on the employer. The standard of “undue hardship” can be difficult to define but is generally meant to mean that the accommodation would cause minimal issues for the employer and other employees.
Under no circumstances can an employer retaliate against an employee for requesting accommodations, practicing their beliefs, or for filing a complaint related to workplace discrimination.
If you are in the San Diego area and have experienced religious discrimination in the workplace, you have options. You need to reach out to an employment law attorney as soon as possible. An attorney will be able to offer a free consultation of your claim and help determine the best steps moving forward. Please understand that there are strict deadlines in place for filing these claims. An attorney can help ensure your claim gets filed on time.
The EEOC enforces federal discrimination claims, and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) enforces discrimination claims at the state level. Generally, the DFEH will investigate the claim, but there are situations where the claim with be dual-filed with the EEOC.
Depending on how the initial complaint is resolved, the employee may be able to file a lawsuit against their employer (after receiving a “right to sue” notice from the DFEH or EEOC). If a claim is successful, the worker may be able to receive various types of compensation. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
If you or somebody you care about has been the victim of religious discrimination in a San Diego workplace, turn to the team at Walker Law PC as soon as possible. We want to get started on your claim so we can investigate the situation, open a dialogue with your employer, and help you obtain justice and compensation for what happened. You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. When you need a San Diego religious discrimination lawyer, you can reach out to us for a free consultation by filling out our contact form or calling us at (619) 839-9978.