Employment Guide: Religion in the workplace

During a biology II exam in 2010, Raheel Haque, a sophomore and  observant Muslim, devoted about 10 minutes to pray in a hallway of Clapp Hall. He got out of his seat, bent head over heels and prayed evening prayers to Allah while his fellow students hunched over their papers.

“That time was crucial, but [praying] was more important than the exam,” he said. “What hit me is that if I walk out of this lecture hall and get hit by a car, the exam is not as important. My religion is more important. This is my obligation to fulfill my duty.”

Leaving during an exam was not the only decision that Haque, former Muslim Student Association president and 2013 graduate, had to make during his college years at Pitt. Since Muslims are required to pray five times a day, Haque often arrived late for class or was absent on days outside of the school’s scheduled holidays. During his senior year, he pushed administrators to create a multifaith prayer room in the Union to create a central space for Muslim students to pray.

“Some professors would be OK with it, but others wanted more proof or reasoning,” Haque said regarding his absences on days including the Eid, which is equivalent to Christianity’s Christmas.

“I had to be stern with them and tell them, ‘this is my holiday,’” he said. “One professor wanted proof that I was going and doing something during that time. It was annoying, but I understand where he was coming from.”

According to research from multiple national organizations, religious diversity is on the rise in the United States and in the workplace. For students, the college setting is their primary workplace. While Christian occasions monopolize the holiday schedule for companies and universities, professors and employers need to adjust policies to accommodate the increasing number of non-Christians, many researchers say.

The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, located in New York, reported that more than one-third of employees say their employers do not adequately accommodate religion in the workplace. An April 2013 study concluded that the most commonly reported grievances include no time off on religious holidays or Sabbath days, as well as a lack of dietary options under religious guidelines, including kosher or vegetarian.

Trinity College conducted a survey on American religious self-identification in 2010. The survey found that the U.S. population of major religions comprises about 173.4 million Christians, 2.7 million Jews, 1.3 million Muslims and 1.2 million Buddhists.

“There are so many people from different religions, so how can you accommodate them all?” asked Mohammad Mozumder, a Bangladesh native and graduate student who teaches sociology of religion. “I don’t really know the ideal solution, but I know there is a lack of concern for people who cannot enjoy their religions fully.”

The Legal Protections

Religion is a protected identity according to federal law. Employers are required to accommodate the religion of an employee or prospective employee under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 unless the accommodation inflicts an “undue hardship” upon the employer.

Undue hardship is considered to be extraordinary costs, diminished efficiency, impediment in other employees’ job rights and benefits or the impairment of work safety, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

James Craft, a professor of business administration at Pitt, said that a company is obligated to respect and accommodate alternative religions, especially if employees express interest in such policies.

Craft said that possible workplace accommodations may include a day or specific hours off, a substitute to fill in for the day or a location where an employee can say prayers in quiet.

But Mozumder said that some accommodations, such as an afternoon off, can weaken the religious observance.

“Those who are Muslims, they don’t have official holidays or days off,” he said. “[Muslims] cannot celebrate their holidays fully because [they] are concerned that [they] have to come back to work. You have to leave your friends who are celebrating.”

Danielle Kranjec, a senior Jewish educator at the Hillel Jewish University Center in Pittsburgh, said workers should be proactive in seeking religious adjustments from the moment they interview for a position and negotiate a contract. She added that certain instances might present an additional challenge, especially for professionals who work on call in a hospital or lawyers who work in a time-demanding law firm.

“It really comes down to individual choice and trying to advocate for yourself on the issues that you’re not willing to compromise,” she said.

Over the past 10 years, religion-based claims filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission grew by about 51 percent. In fiscal year 2003, the EEOC filed 2,532 charges alleging religion-based discrimination under Title VII and 3,811 for fiscal year 2012.

In addition to federal laws, states can pass their own laws regarding religious tolerance. Companies can also create policies to minimize discrimination and discomfort based on religion.

At Pitt, absences because of religious observance are excused with proper notification to the deans.  

Tanenbaum Study

In the Tanenbaum Center’s What American Workers Really Think About Religion study, the center concluded that 36 percent of workers either personally experienced or witnessed religious “non-accommodation” — a term coined by the center — in the workplace.

According to the survey, 24 percent of employees reported non-accommodations that included being required to work on Sabbath observances or a religious holiday, and 13 percent of employees reported attending work events that did not offer kosher, halal or vegetarian options.

Almost half of non-Christian workers reported experiencing or witnessing religious non-accommodation at their jobs. About 22 percent of workers reported that they discuss religious beliefs in the workplace occasionally.

According to the study, Catholics feel the most comfortable when the topic of religion arises in the workplace.

In terms of workplace diversity, about 13 percent of workers reported that their companies are highly diverse, while 35 percent reported moderate diversity, leaving 52 percent of workers reporting low to minimal diversity.

The survey measured nine possible forms of religious non-accommodation, including discouragement of facial hair or dress styles inherent to the  religion, refusal to give time off to pray or meditate during the workday or attendance of company-sponsored event that served no halal, kosher or vegetarian options. The study also addressed workplace issues such as discouragement from displaying religious beliefs, requirement to work on Sabbath observances or a religious holiday, discouragement from creating a religious network or criticism for not attending company social events.

Making Do

Despite legal protections, both students and professionals said they compromised their faith to get along in the workplace.

Michael Fingerman, president of the Hillel Center on campus, said that the dearth of kosher options on University meal plans might deter future Jewish students from attending the school. Currently, kosher options are not available at Market Central or The Perch.

“It’s a deterrent for a lot of prospective Jewish students to come here,” he said. “They come here, realize there’s not much they can eat and cross Pitt off their list. It’s difficult to explore the different ways of connecting with their faith because a huge part of Judaism is keeping kosher.”

According to both Fingerman and Haque, a group of Muslim students accompanied by Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey took a trip to Carnegie Mellon University last spring. While there, Humphrey and the students explored the options for both kosher and halal foods in addition to viewing the university’s prayer room.

“We are not creating a prayer room, but we are working to create a student reflection space, where students can pray if they choose or engage in other reflective activities,” Humphrey said in a statement emailed to The Pitt News.

Haque said that the Muslim students had some success with menu changes after the visit. Halal options were added to the Market Central lunch menu during the 2011-2012 academic year. But during his freshman and sophomore years, Haque said that he was essentially a “forced vegetarian.”

Additionally, Muslims typically reserve a room in the William Pitt Union to pray daily. Haque said that as more Muslims began to attend, the space became too small to fit everyone comfortably. 

“Many students wouldn’t feel comfortable just praying on the William Pitt Union lawn. It’s nerve-racking,” he said. “Some students will even pray between bookshelves at the Hillman Library.”

While companies and universities typically grant employees off for Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter, Vince Burens, vice president of the Coalition for Christian Outreach, noted the declining regard for closing on Sundays.

“It’s ironic, actually. I’m a Christian, it’s a Sunday, and I’m driving to a work event,” he said. “The trend is that more and more Saturday and Sundays will now look more like Monday through Friday.”

Valerie Hart, a junior leader at the Newman Center, said that not all professors have recognized Catholic Holy Days when she raised the issue to them. During the spring of her freshman year, one of Hart’s professor threatened Hart with failure if she missed class on Good Friday, which Hart calls “one of the biggest days outside of Christmas and Easter.” In the interest of getting along, Hart went to class anyway.

For students whose holidays are not recognized on the calendar, they sometimes choose to make compromises in order not to fall behind. During his freshman year, Haque went to class during the end of the Ramadan because he “didn’t want to fall behind as everyone was moving forward.”

Mozumder said that conservative Muslims, who do not drink or eat pork, sometimes avoid company events out of embarrassment.

“When [practicing Muslims] celebrate, there is no alcohol. For many people, this feels like something is missing,” he said. “It gives the sense that [we’re] ‘not cool.’”            

A Sweep Away From Faithfulness Toward Acceptance

In an environment that fosters knowledge and diversity, students might find themselves lulled into a sense of security, allowing them to believe that discrimination does not exist. Once they enter the workforce, what they find could surprise them.

“As these minority groups grow and become a meaningful part of the population, they seek more opportunities and are more willing to express their needs to the employer,” Craft said.

“The younger generation tends to be more open to diversity than perhaps some of the older, more senior people may be,” he said. “There’s a changing emphasis that the older generation has on higher qualified people. It’s going to put pressure on the company to be accepting because they’ll need to be to get more talent.”

Members of all faiths noticed a trend toward avoiding religious conversation or faith at all, especially as technology progresses. Mozumder, who studies secularism, said that aspects of modernization, including technological advancements, urbanization, industrialization and science, have made religion “uncool” in the face of progress.

“You can talk about music, science, literature, culture … But religion seems to be something that you stray away from or are suspicious of as science progresses,” he said.

Burens noted that the ability to click away on an iPhone at any hour of the day, including weekends, created a barrier to Sunday rest. Now, he noted that Sunday looks like a typical business day in most situations.

For Jews, the Shabbat, or Sabbath, takes place between sundown Friday and Saturday. Depending on the degree of observance, some Jews do not use electricity or carry heavy items on those days. 

Fingerman said that he would prefer to find a job that did not require hours within his Shabbat.

Kranjec said that technology has created more opportunities for religious accommodation, because work hours are no longer confined from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“With technology, more and more, we’re able to change the work week and hours so that as long as the work gets done, it doesn’t necessarily matter when it’s being done.”

Mozumder reflected Craft’s point, adding that the millennial generation may in fact change the face of workplace diversity.

“We want it to happen. We want people of different religions to come together and work side by side and live side by side,” he said. “Since 9/11, there has been tension of course, but there has also been a lot of growing curiosity about each other [Muslims and Christians] and to understand each other.”