Muslim Prayer in Wyoming
Posted by Tamara
Wyoming employees are curious about the rules governing religion in the workplace. For example, can Muslim workers take time from work for prayer?
The answer to that question is yes, in most cases. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically Title VII prohibits discrimination against employees due to religion. Employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for workers with “sincerely held” religious beliefs.
“Sincerely held” means the employee must show evidence of participating in that religion. To get time off, a worker can’t claim to be Christian one week, Muslim the next, and Jewish the next.
“Reasonable accommodations” means the employer doesn’t suffer undue hardship to provide these accommodations. For a female Muslim employee substituting long pants for the uniform’s short skirt could be considered a reasonable accommodation, even if the pants cost more than the skirt. Requiring the employer to provide a brand new wardrobe, however, is not reasonable.
In some schools and companies, employers provide Muslims with a quiet room for their prayers. This room serves as a quiet retreat for non-Muslim employees, as well.
Undue hardship can also include the need to hire additional personnel. If the Muslim employee works alone, taking prayer breaks could require the company to hire an additional worker. That would be considered undue expense, thus undue hardship. A remedy for that situation could be to transfer the employee to another department with more workers, so the breaks would not be disruptive.
A Muslim needs five breaks per day, at specific times, to pray. Five breaks a day seems like a lot of time, but understand that most companies give their workers paid breaks during the day. In addition, workers usually take additional short breaks, such as bathroom breaks, too. The average employee can spend quite a bit of time away from work for these paid breaks, bathroom breaks and smoking breaks, too. Added together, these breaks probably total more than the time a Muslim requires to pray.
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