Are All Religions Protected by Religious Discrimination Laws?
Protections against religious discrimination for job applicants and employees exist under state law in Florida through the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA), and under federal law through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While religious discrimination protections are often cited in cases where job applicants or employees are discriminated against for practicing or being associated with religions that have historically faced discrimination in the United States and other parts of the world, it is important to know that legal protections against religious discrimination extend more broadly. For example, we often think about religious discrimination protections for major organized religions such as Islam and Judaism, but these protections also apply to many other belief systems. The protections also apply to individuals with a lack of religious belief.
Our South Florida religious discrimination attorneys can explain how these legal protections work, and we can speak with you today if you were treated adversely in your workplace due to your religious beliefs or religion.
How Religion is Defined by Legal Protections
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which handles most federal employment discrimination charges, explains that Title VII’s definition of “religion” is broad.
The definition of “religion” under Title VII includes “all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as belief, not just practices that are mandated or prohibited by a tenet of the individual’s faith.” In addition, the definition of “religion” includes “not only traditional, organized religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, but also religious beliefs that are new, uncommon, not part of a formal church or sect, only subscribed to by a small number of people or that seem illogical or unreasonable to others.”
Moreover, the EEOC further explains, “a person’s religious beliefs need not be confined in either source or content to traditional or parochial concepts of religion.” Rather, a belief is considered to be “religious” for purposes of protections under Title VII “if it is ‘religious’ in the person’s own scheme of things,” meaning that “it is a sincere and meaningful belief that occupies a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by . . . God.”=
Applying Religious Discrimination Protections
Based on the above language, religious discrimination protections apply very broadly to recognized religion and religious beliefs and to underground or less common religions alike, as well as to sincerely held beliefs that are “religious” to a person based on ethics or morality.
In addition, religious discrimination laws protect against discrimination for lacking a religious belief, or for atheistic or non-theistic beliefs.
Contact Our Palm Beach Gardens Religious Discrimination Attorneys for Assistance with Your Claim
If you have faced discrimination on the basis of your religion or religious practices, whether as a job applicant or an employee, you may be able to move forward with a religious discrimination claim. As we discussed above, employment law protections against religious discrimination extend not only to major, recognized religions, but to many other religious and sincerely held beliefs. To find out more about your eligibility to file a religious discrimination claim, you should speak with one of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens religious discrimination lawyers at Sconzo Law Office. Contact our firm today to discuss the details of your case and to find out more about how we can help you with your claim.
Source:
eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination
