Articles Posted in Religious Discrimination

As cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus surge, more and more governmental entities and private employers are responding with mandates related to vaccines and masks. As these mandates have proliferated, workers whose religious beliefs and practices stand opposed to such things may feel left in a quandary. Do not give up hope. Although the circumstances are limited, there are settings in which you may be entitled to a religious exemption against certain coronavirus-related mandates. As with any kind of workplace discrimination, you should get in touch with an experienced New Jersey religious discrimination lawyer and discuss your legal options.

Vaccine mandates are making lots of news headlines. Nearby New York City has erected a mandate banning unvaccinated people from indoor restaurants, gyms, and entertainment facilities. Many employers in New Jersey – including several in the healthcare industry along with the state’s court system – are mandating vaccines for their employees.

So, what if you practice a religion whose rules prevent you from getting any of the coronavirus vaccines? Does the threat posed by COVID-19 trump your religious rights?

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A few years ago, a team from Carnegie Mellon University completed a study and found that Muslim job candidates faced particularly high levels of discrimination in the hiring process if the employer was located in one of the so-called “red states,” such as in the high plains, the northern Rockies and the southeast. More recently, though, incidents have occurred that raise the specter of anti-Muslim discrimination far away from places like Alabama or Idaho. These incidents demonstrate that, even here in New Jersey, Muslim workers face very real threats of religious discrimination, and that’s especially true in industries like engineering and information technology. If you’ve been harmed as a result of religious discrimination, you have the right to seek compensation in court, so you should reach out to a knowledgeable New Jersey employment discrimination attorney right away.

The most recent potential incident involved an information technology (IT) services company based right here in New Jersey. In late November, news reports began surfacing that exposed an email for an application developer position.

InsiderNJ reported that, at the top of the email, which was addressed to a recruiter, the listing said, “please do not submit Muslim candidates for below position.” The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the firm to undergo a full investigation and discipline all those involved in wrongdoing.

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In mid-January, a bill to remove religious reasons as a valid exception to the legal requirement that schoolchildren receive certain vaccinations failed to make it out of the Senate before the legislative session ended. The bill, if it had passed, would have forced all public school students to be vaccinated unless they had a documented medical reason not to be. Although the bill did not reach the Governor’s desk before the end of the session, legislative leaders have vowed to begin work right away on a new bill, nj.com reported.

This particular bill that just failed would have had no impact on New Jersey workers when it comes to vaccinations and valid bases for obtaining an exception to an otherwise mandatory inoculation. If your religion forbids you from receiving medical treatments such as vaccinations, then an employer who forces you either to get inoculated or lose your job may be engaged in impermissible religious discrimination. If you find yourself placed in such a difficult position, be sure to reach out to a knowledgeable religious discrimination attorney to discuss your situation and your options.

In New Jersey, there are various avenues that may allow you to avoid having to undergo a vaccination if your preference is not to have one. One way you can avoid vaccination is if you have a medical condition that makes getting vaccinated problematic for your health. For example, the yellow fever vaccine sometimes contains egg proteins. Medical professionals, such as the Mayo Clinic, generally recommend that people with egg allergies do not get a yellow fever vaccine except under specific situations and under close medical supervision.

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Many of us have been there. You’ve just accepted a new job and now you’re going through the “new hire” procedures. You are probably asked to fill out, review and sign many documents. You may also be required to complete certain computerized or online tasks as you get started. Most people probably think of these things as perfunctory and don’t pay exceptionally close attention to the details. But the details can matter a great deal, especially should you eventually find yourself having suffered discrimination or harassment on the job. If you are in that position of needing to pursue a discrimination or harassment case, be sure you have skilled New Jersey employment counsel on your side.

One specific area where these kinds of details matter relates to the arbitration agreement you may have signed with your new job. Take, as an example, the case of a West Trenton-based flight attendant, A.S. When the flight attendant began her employment with a major New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company, she was required to complete something called a “training module.” That activity went over various employer policies, including the company’s mandatory arbitration agreement, which was laid out across a series of slides on a computer screen. One screen referred the employee to an internet link that provided the full text of the policy. A separate email provided a series of Frequently Asked Questions and answers to them (FAQs.)

One of the slides contained an interactive button that asked employees to “acknowledge” the policy. Even if the employee did not acknowledge the agreement, she would be “deemed” to have consented to it if she continued working for the employer for 60 or more days, another slide explained.

Many religions have various requirements when it comes to how followers dress and/or groom themselves. Some people wear dreadlocks because they observe the Rastafarian religion, some people wear a burqa because of their Islamic faith, some wear peyos in observance of their orthodox Jewish religion and still others wear beards because they are Sikhs. So, what happens when your employer tells you that, because of some business necessity, you cannot observe that clothing/grooming requirement that is an important part of the practice of your religion? Depending on the specific facts of your religious observance and your workplace, your employer’s rule may constitute illegal religious discrimination, in violation of the Law Against Discrimination. If your employer has told you that you cannot dress or groom yourself in a manner consistent with your religious faith, be sure to contact an experienced New Jersey discrimination attorney right away to find out if your employer’s actions are a violation of the law, and what that might mean for you.

To see an example of how this process can play out for an employee, look at a recent case that originated in Union County. M.R. was a man who practiced the Jewish religion. M.R.’s branch of his religion taught that men were prohibited from shaving their heads or their faces. This was not a problem until the summer of 2016, when M.R. became interested in becoming a state corrections officer. The corrections officers’ training program required all trainees to shave their faces and their heads. M.R.s sought a religious accommodation, and attached a statement from an elder in his church explaining the “no shaving” rule.

A week later, M.R. showed up at the training academy. He was told that his request for an accommodation had been denied, and was subsequently dismissed from the training because he was not properly shaven.

While everyone hopes that we are progressing toward a more enlightened society in which instances of discrimination and harassment in the workplace become fewer and fewer, the unfortunate reality is that they still happen. Whether your work environment is made into a hostile one because you’re African-American, female, Jewish, LGBT, Latino or for some other reason, you have recourse. To learn more about your options under the law, talk to a New Jersey employment attorney experienced in discrimination and harassment issues.

The allegations made by one township employee alleged conduct that was truly disgusting. According to a nj1015.com report, an employee experienced a near-constant barrage of anti-Semitic comments during his more than 15-year tenure with the township. These comments, which the employee endured on an almost daily basis, ranged from engaging in typical Jewish stereotyping (calling him “my big Jewish buddy,” “cheap Jeward,” and “Mr. Money Bags,” along with asking him why he “killed Jesus”) to epithets like “f***ing Jew,” “golem,” and “Jewbacca” (based the employee’s appreciation of the Star Wars movies). The comments allegedly went as far as telling him he should have numbers tattooed on his arm, a reference to the identification tattoos the Nazis gave Jews who were inprisoned in the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

In a case like this one, the employee’s claim arises from the existence of harassment so severe or pervasive as to make the workplace a “hostile work environment.” In this type of lawsuit, the harassment can be either severe or pervasive to constitute a valid claim; it does not have to be both. The harasser does not have to have authority over the person harmed. The harasser can be a supervisor, a co-worker or, in certain situations, even a non-employee of the employer.