The Pluralism Project at Harvard UniversityResearch Report
Religious Diversity and the Workplace (2004)
Description
This paper was prepared as the basis for a presentation at the professional development workshop entitled " Managing Religious Diversity in the Workplace: An Exploration of Theory and Practice," held in conjunction with the American Academy of Management's annual conference New Orleans, Louisiana, August 7, 2004 .
The Pluralism Project at Harvard University documents the religious diversity of the United States, with particular attention to the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and other minority traditions. The workplace is obviously a site that is impacted by religious diversity and it is well known that issues of religious diversity in the workplace are becoming more prominent. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Washington, D.C., there has been a substantial rise in the number of complaints of workplace harassment or discharge due to religion, from 1388 in FY 1992 to 2572 in FY 2003. Much of the increase represents a backlash against Muslims and Sikhs in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 2001. Some may be explained by an increased awareness of rights and the channels for redressing wrongs. This legal framework of rights is an important precursor to a moral framework for looking at religious diversity in the workplace. The EEOC website offers information on religious discrimination, which includes question and answer sections for employees and employers that offer short scenarios and analysis, as well as further resources. Statistics on religion-based charges are also available online.
Dr. Douglas Hicks (a Pluralism Project affiliate), in his landmark study Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership, offers a moral argument for the framework of respectful pluralism that "allows employees to express, within constraints to be outlined, their religious as well as political, cultural, spiritual, and other commitments within the workplace. In addition, no religious tradition should receive undue institutional preference or priority." (Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.159) He offers a critique of workplace spirituality (and civil religion) as follows:
Civil religion and workplace spirituality each shift the institutional locus of religious expression from the church, synagogue, or mosque to another public institution- the state or the company respectively. The presence of these different institutions raises the important question of identity and possibly competing loyalties. Both civil religion and workplace spirituality de-emphasize the possible conflicts and difficulties often faced by employees who are also religious practitioners. Jews, Christians, or Muslims who are employees of a company may well have reason to question the practices of their company on religio-moral grounds. Institutionally sponsored workplace spirituality does not recognize such potential conflicts. ... institutionally expressing workplace spirituality is clearly not synonymous with allowing individual employees to express their beliefs and practices at work. This critical view of workplace spirituality should not be understood, then, as a criticism of individuals who seek to live out their specific religious or spiritual worldview at work. On the contrary, it lays the groundwork for the creation of a level playing field for religious and spiritual expression among employees of all backgrounds. (p.121)
As a step towards that level playing field, it is useful to look at a range of specific cases of religious discrimination in the workplace. The Pluralism Project’s online Religious Diversity News summaries offer a sampling of cases reported in the media. A keyword search under Business/Workplace brings up dozens of cases for the past year alone. This paper will very briefly overview cases involving Muslims, Sikhs, Rastafarians, and Wiccans.
Muslims
Religious discrimination against Muslims in the workplace has included harassment and discharge. For example, on December 6, 2003 The Washington Post reported on an Arab American waiter in Baltimore who was sent home from work because his name is Mohamad. A Trans State Airline pilot was fired solely because of his religion. Harassment cases are numerous.
For some Muslim women, the wearing of a religious headscarf (hijab) has brought repercussions in the workplace. Legal redress has been sought for a variety of cases concerning the right to this religious attire: by a Pennsylvania policewoman who was barred from wearing hijab on the job, by an applicant who was denied a uniformed airline job, and by an Arizona woman working for a rental car company. It is likely that women who apply for employment wearing the headscarf face discrimination in hiring, much of which may go undocumented.
Accommodation of Muslim prayer times, both in terms of space and breaks from work, has had to be negotiated. Many Muslims individually pray five times per day, so some of these times will fall during the working hours. Prayer involves kneeling and facing towards Mecca; some employers have been able to accommodate the need for specific prayer space. Washing stations, used before prayer, have at times been supplied by employers. On Fridays the mid-day prayer is communal, so many Muslims need time to visit the local mosque. In some cases, this time off has been accommodated by lengthening the workday for these employees. The daily breaks necessary from work for prayer must be negotiated to meet the employee's protected right to their religion while not placing an undue burden on the employer. At Electrolux, the company agreed to change a break time to allow Muslim employees to participate in prayer at sunset.
Aversion to transporting alcohol has come up as a religious issue; a Muslim truck driver declined to transport beer, since alcohol consumption is forbidden by his religion. He will have to show that accommodating his request would not cause undue hardship to the employer.
For more information on issues involving discrimination against or accommodation of Muslims in the workplace, see this selection of articles from Religious Diversity News.
Sikhs
In addition to Muslims, members of the Sikh tradition have been particularly impacted by religious intolerance in the work place, due to increased discrimination post-9/11 and the outward visibility of religious attire. Many workplace cases have revolved around the men's turbans and/or untrimmed beards. Sikh women may also cover their heads or wear a form of turban. A long standing court case involving Sikh Traffic Enforcement Agents in New York City was recently resolved so that Sikh officers will not be fired for violations of dress code. Sikhs struggling for their right to wear the turban have been subway drivers, cab drivers, policemen, and attorneys wearing the turban while visiting clients. The Sikh Coalition, a group formed to educate and protect the civil and religious rights of Sikhs, documents many of these efforts online.
The carrying of a ritual knife (kirpan) as mandated by the Sikh religion has been an issue for employers. In one situation reported by the Sikh Coalition, an employer forbade the carrying of this ceremonial knife, but information and intervention from the Sikh Coalition convinced the employer to withdraw the prohibition. (Click here to read the Sikh Coalition's press release.)
Rastafarians
For Rastafarians, the dreadlocks that are a religiously mandated hairstyle have raised issues in the workplace. There have been cases brought up against FEDEX for firings over dreadlocks, and Greyhound paid a settlement of $33,500 to end a discrimination in hiring case brought by a Rastafarian man in Buffalo, New York. He was denied a driving position due to his long dreadlocks; the positions were filled by lesser-qualified candidates. These cases seek to redress more than the wrong to the particular individual, but to change the problematic corporate culture as well. "As part of the settlement, Greyhound will be required to train its hiring officials about laws prohibiting employment discrimination and distribute anti-discrimination policies and complaint procedures to all employees." (January 17, 2002, The Buffalo News, B4)
For more information on issues involving discrimination against or accommodation of Rastafarians in the workplace, see this selection of articles from Religious Diversity News.
Wiccans
Issues involving Wiccans include a furor over a Wiccan hired as a prison chaplain in Wisconsin (click here for this story in Religious Diversity News). The individual had previously served in the position as a volunteer and so had a proven record of accomplishment as well as being the outstanding candidate. However, her religious affiliation was anathema to many.
Clearly there are issues that arise that are specific to each religious tradition, with some issues that are comparable across them. Education is key to the accommodation of religious rights of members of minority religions, which in turn protects the principles of religious rights for all. Presumably, many more situations arise that are resolved through education and negotiation, while the media may report more of the cases involving litigation. Additional research and writing about the specific practices of different religious traditions and examples of appropriate accommodations is important for the development of research on religion in the workplace. Dr. Hick’s theoretical framework of respectful pluralism does much to advance the thinking about religious diversity in the workplace, and it specifically calls for examination of areas of conflict. Disputes over clothing mandated by religion, hairstyles, carrying of religious implements, and other pragmatic concerns must be studied since they offer measures of the realities, challenges, and extent of religious diversity in workplaces in the United States.