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Potential examples of religious discrimination

Religious discrimination is illegal on the job. The most overt example of this would be if an employer simply refused to hire people who were part of a certain religion. Regardless of someone’s religious beliefs, they deserve a chance to apply for the job based on their skills and abilities, just like everyone else.

But even if companies hire workers with that religious background, employees could still experience discrimination on the job. Here are a few ways this could happen: 

Dress code issues

First of all, a restrictive dress code could be targeted at the religion itself. An example of this is if the religion requires special headwear. A CEO could make a dress code prohibiting all headwear but, unless it’s necessary for a safety reason, it may be discriminatory because it unequally impacts workers within this religion.

Scheduling problems

Another thing to look for is if the company intentionally schedules the worker for times that are in conflict with their religion. Maybe they have religious meetings at a certain time every week and the manager intentionally schedules that employee to be on the clock during the meetings.

Not observing holidays

Similarly, discrimination can occur if the employer refuses to recognize holidays or religious events. Just because the employer isn’t part of the religion doesn’t necessarily mean that they can just ignore it entirely.

There are some cases in which acts like these are not discriminatory behavior, such as if they would create an undue hardship. But in other cases, it is very important for employees to know exactly what rights they have when being discriminated against.