When employees claim religious discrimination, courts will usually take their word when they say their beliefs are genuine. But does that mean you have to say yes every time someone asks to miss work for religious reasons?
Not exactly. However, you do need to at least hear them out and try to think of a reasonable accommodation. It may be natural to assume that someone is just looking for an excuse – especially if it’s someone who’s only recently made this kind of request – but courts normally don’t look at it that way.
Not a free ticket
That said, though, employees don’t have free reign to ask for time off whenever religion is a factor – especially when other employees would be negatively affected. For example, if one employee asks to have every Friday off, and the only way to cover that shift would be to have other employees work overtime, that probably won’t be considered a reasonable accommodation.
On the other hand, if you can get other employees to voluntarily trade with the religious employee, that’s something a court might expect you to do. Or, if it’s a matter of giving someone one day off (for a holiday, for example), it’s likely that you’ll have to do so.
What you can and can’t do will vary on a case-by-case basis, but one key across the board is taking each request seriously. Doing nothing is an easy way to get dragged into court.
