Religious Discrimination

Employment Lawyers Serving the Miami Area

Christianity is the most commonly practiced religion in Miami, but other religions commonly practiced in Miami include Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Around 24% of the population consists of atheists or people who do not identify with an organized religion. As an employee, your religious beliefs should not factor into your career. Unfortunately, some Miami employers do engage in religious discrimination. This discrimination can wreak havoc on your career. Federal, state, and local laws prohibit religious discrimination in workplaces, and you may have a basis to sue for damages. You should consult the seasoned Miami religious discrimination lawyers at Phillips & Associates if you have suffered from religious discrimination or harassment on the job.

Religious Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal law that prohibits discriminating against employees based on their religious views or beliefs, among other protected characteristics. Your employer is not allowed to make any employment decision based on your religious faith. It can neither refuse to hire you because you have a particular belief system, nor can it tolerate harassment of you by coworkers or a supervisor based on your religious views. Protected religions under federal law include beliefs that involve God or gods and nontheistic moral or ethical beliefs about life, death, or purpose, as well as atheism, affiliations with organized religions like Judaism or Islam, and affiliations with a newer, smaller, or unusual sect.

The Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) also prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. It is largely interpreted according to federal case law. Similarly, the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Ordinance prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. You should discuss your situation with an experienced religious discrimination attorney in Miami to determine under which law, or laws, you might obtain the strongest relief.

Religious views can dictate various aspects of your life, including the days on which you observe your religion, the way that you dress, and prayer times. Therefore, you may be entitled to reasonable accommodations based on your religious practices.

Reasonable Accommodations

You can ask for a reasonable accommodation if there is a policy or practice in the workplace that conflicts with a religious practice. Often, reasonable accommodations are requested in connection with scheduling, dress policies, job duties, or religious expression. For example, some workplaces require that employees not have head coverings, but an employee who is a Sikh or an Orthodox Jew may need to wear a type of head covering to follow his or her religious practices. In that case, the employee may ask for a reasonable accommodation in the form of an exception to that policy.

In other cases, religions can prohibit working on certain days or require breaks for prayer. You can ask for a reasonable accommodation in the form of an altered break or shift to meet that religious requirement. Our Miami religious discrimination attorneys can help you pursue a reasonable accommodation claim if your request is not granted, or you are retaliated against for even asking.

Undue Hardships

Your employer is supposed to provide a reasonable accommodation unless doing so would present an “undue hardship” on the company. Undue hardships can arise in different ways. It may be an undue hardship if an employer needs to hire other employees to cover work shifts, if the costs are more than minor or administrative. Also, it may be an undue hardship if the accommodation requested creates a safety or health risk for other employees, if the accommodation substantially reduces efficiency, or if the accommodation infringes on other employees’ rights.

Sometimes a claim of an undue hardship is raised for trivial reasons, such as to simply to avoid providing the accommodation in compliance with the law. A court can look at the specific burden on the employer to determine whether the undue hardship argument is appropriately raised, or whether your rights have been violated by the denial of a reasonable accommodation.

Hire a Religious Discrimination Lawyer in Miami

If you have been subjected to adverse treatment at your job based on your religion, you should schedule a free consultation with our experienced attorneys. Call the law office of Phillips & Associates at (866) 229-9441 or complete our online form. We represent clients on a contingency fee basis, which means that we do not get attorneys’ fees unless we successfully secure a settlement or verdict on your behalf.