Religion_Discrimination

HR/Task 1 Mr. Jim Stevens / CEO Toy Company Dear Jim, Here is the initial research you had requested I conduct on our recent production employee Law Suit. Our former employee alleges discrimination on the base of freedom of religion. As you know with the start of the new fiscal year all schedules where changed to accommodate new company production demands due to our Company’s organic growth. Our former employee claims that the enforcement of the company’s new policy on shift work is discriminatory because it requires employees to work on a religious holiday. He resigned a few days after the implementation of the new schedules. The employees perception was that we “Toy Company“ discriminated against him and his rights to observe a religious holy day. The employee saw now other recourse but to resign. When an employee resigns due feelings of discrimination is also called “constructive discharge”. To the untrained eye and without further study this may look like a Text book case of discrimination. Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in Hiring, Firing and other conditions of employment. The law however provides that the employer must make reasonable accommodations for the employee unless these cause the employer “undue hardship” (2 ). During my research I found a number of cases ( hrinfocenter,“ n.d. ) “EEOC vs. Mr. Bill’s Restaurants”, “EEOC vs. Delta Airlines” and “Cosma vs. Henderson”, where the courts sided with the employer. In these cases the employers were able to prove they had either attempted to make or made reasonable accommodation and the employees in question in one way or another refused the accommodations. Knowing we work for a great company that is committed to fair employment practices and takes pride in being accommodating to all our employees I am sure, had we known of the employees religious believes we may have been able to arrange for a number of reasonable accommodations. In “Chalmer vs. Tulon Company of Richmond” ( hrinfocenter,” n.d.) the lawsuit was dismissed due to the employee’s failure to provide “notice” of the religious belief to the employer, Allowing the employer the opportunity to make reasonable accommodations( 3). To prove Prima Facie or evidence of Discrimination in a “constructive discharge” case ( www.adl.org,” n.d. ) three critical elements must be present and proven by the claimant: 1. That there is a religious belief that conflicts with the employers Business conduct/employment policies/practices. 2. That the employer was aware of the religious preference. 3. The employee suffered disciplinary action for it. Looking at my research in this case none of these three elements are present. Jim, After looking at all the available facts at hand and due all above research I move our response to the charges should be that we “Toy Company” have in no way violated title’s VII provisions as we the employer were never made aware of the employees religious beliefs and that had we been notified we would have acted responsibly and in accordance to Fair employment practices as identified in title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Due our employees failure to notify us of his religious beliefs and his conflict with the new scheduling model, we were never allowed the opportunity to make reasonable accommodations. Being the socially responsible company we are and in an effort to further protect our company and shareholders from further litigation, It is imperative our company begins developing comprehensive “EEOC”training modules for all Employees. It is my recommendation the training is done in two tiers: • Management Module ( strong emphasis on the company’s social responsibility to our employees and the Law ) • Hourly Employee Module ( To share their rights and help begin positive and constructive dialog between the two layers ) To ensure we don’t miss any new team members and set the right tone we would have to make this a mandatory training module during Orientation week. To ensure no one forgets the message we are trying to deliver we would also make this part of our yearly core competencies assessment. I think your direct involvement in getting this program rolled out would send a very strong message that this is a very important part of who we are as a company. Hope this research and humble opinions helps your decision as to a proper course of action. Please don’t hesitate to call or write with further Questions /comments Respectfully, Elementary Division Manager Toy Company References Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2009). Managing human resources (6th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. ISBN: 978-0-13-609352-7 American Defamation League. ( n.d. ) .Religious accommodations in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.adl.org Jewish Law. ( n.d. ). Religious accommodations in the workplace . Retrieved from http://www.jlaw.com/Law Policy/accomodations.html Rapid learning Institute . ( n.d. ). HR Infocenter. Retrieved from http://www.hrinfocenter.com