Religious Discrimination In The United States

Introduction
The topic of religious discrimination, as well as the right to practice freedom of religion in the United States, has been a subject of much debate in recent years. Most notably, the employer contraceptive mandate within Obamacare, settled in the case of Little Sisters of the Poor vs. Burwell, has raised the issue of what limits employers of religious faith have in exercising their consciences when electing not to provide their employees contraceptive or abortifacient coverage that employers are compelled to provide under the healthcare law. This issue is far from the only example of litigants seeking relief from the courts as a result of real or perceived attacks on their religious freedom. For example, the number of overall
Nichols are supportive of his efforts to receive the (continuation of his existing) accommodation, and the Magistrate’s decision in his favor. The amount of the settlement does not seem excessive in light of the circumstances. By all accounts, the employee’s religious beliefs were sincere and demonstrated consistently by his actions in regular weekly observance of his religious abstinence from Sunday work. The accommodation requested, based on the EEOC standards as well as my own lay interpretation of what should constitute an “undue hardship”, seems inherently reasonable. If the employee in question appeared to be seeking a religious justification to avoid Sunday work when his or her religious belief or practice were questionable, I would be less sympathetic to their plight. A theoretical example could be an employee who wanted to be free from work obligations on Sundays in order to watch NFL games, but used a nominal Christian belief as justification for a religious accommodation. One example of a religious discrimination case that was decided on the basis of whether the employee’s religious belief was indeed sincere was the case of Davis v. Fort Bend County, which found in favor the claimant. (Schwartz & Perry, LLP 2014). If an employee were found to be abusing this provision by claiming sincere religious belief which they in fact did not hold, I would strongly support the employer’s right to refuse the request for accommodation. Another theoretical example would be that of a convenience store owner who received a questionable accommodation request to be exempted from Sunday duty. As a small business owner with limited staff, having one employee who could never work a Sunday could be a very significant potential burden. The “sincerity” test appears to be very important to ensure that the balance of rights between employer and employee is maintained, and avoid an abuse which may significantly impact