Religious discrimination is strictly forbidden in the United States Constitution and in many Individual States own constitutions. While in the US constitution it more specifically refers to the government imposing any undue laws or policies in place that would potentially discriminate on an individual's right to worship as they so choose. Whereas in the States constitutions and in this case the State of Massachusetts laws states that an employer shall not be allowed to discriminate on an individual as far as their religious beliefs allow. In the case of Cloutier v. Costco Wholesale Corp. we have an individual suing Costco Wholesale Corp. for religious discrimination because she was terminated for not strictly following the employer's dress code of not having any facial jewelry except for earrings.
"Kimberly M. Cloutier, Plaintiff, Appellant, alleges that her employer, Costco Wholesale Corp. (Costco), failed to offer her a reasonable accommodation after she alerted it to a conflict between the “no facial jewelry” provision of its dress code and her religious practice as a member of the Church of Body Modification. She argues that this failure amounts to religious discrimination in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a), and the corresponding Massachusetts statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, § 4(1A). Religious beliefs that she be allowed to wear facial jewelry are found in the tennents of her religious organization"
It would be up to The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and then subsequently the US appeals court to make rulings either for or against the appellant. Costco has developed an extensive dress code policy and expected all of its employees to follow this policy strictly to be able to maintain a business atmosphere. After the employee failed to remove her facial jewelry, Costco suspended the employee due to refusal to adhere to the dress code policy. After consideration was made Costco did