Get Justice After Experiencing Religious Discrimination At Work
A person’s religious beliefs and identity are very personal, but sometimes they become objects of controversy or contention in the workplace. You may have experienced illegal religious discrimination in connection with hiring, management or termination.
- You may have experienced harassment over your religious identity, customs, and beliefs.
- You may have been pressured to do things that go against your sincerely held religious beliefs.
- You may have been reprimanded, suspended, or fired because of a supervisor’s prejudices.
No matter what happened to make you feel discriminated against, you deserve answers. You may also deserve more, such as:
- Compensation for past and future lost income
- Compensation for emotional distress
- Possible reinstatement
To discuss a possible religious discrimination claim against your employer or past employer, contact us at Licata & Yeremenko in Sherman Oaks. Explore your options through counsel with one of our employment law attorneys.
About Religious Discrimination And Employment Law
Both the federal government and the state of California prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion in the workplace. Religious discrimination is named as a form of prohibited discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) also gives California’s workers similar protections.
Additionally, the California Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 (WRFA) expanded on FEHA to require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for religious observances. This law specifies that the accommodations should not cause an employer undue hardship.
Examples of accommodations might include:
- Allowing Muslim women to wear head coverings although headscarves are not otherwise allowed in a workplace
- Allowing workers who are opposed to serving or eating pork for religious reasons to delegate those tasks to other workers as necessary, such as in a restaurant, grocery store or school cafeteria
- Allowing workers to take religious holidays off and not being scheduled to work on specific days and/or specific time frames
An employer may counter that a particular accommodation would constitute undue hardship as a result of significant difficulty or expense. Negotiations, mediation, arbitration or a lawsuit may be necessary to resolve a dispute over what is an accommodation or a hardship.
Ask Our Lawyers How To Pursue Relief
Legal claims about religious discrimination are much less common than claims over allegations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. However, when religious discrimination disputes develop in the workplace, the subject often involves highly controversial areas of the law, such as people’s religious beliefs about abortion, other medical treatments and gender issues. Licata & Yeremenko has a strong reputation for our team’s ability to resolve cases satisfactorily for our clients, even when hot-button issues are at stake.
To discuss your potential religious discrimination claim against your current or past employer or an employer that refused to hire you, call 818-783-5757 or send an email inquiry. We provide Spanish and Russian bilingual services as needed.