What California Employers Need to Know About Religious Discrimination and Accommodations
Attention:
California is actively enforcing this. Here is what your organization needs to know.
The California Civil Rights Department recently released a fact sheet on religious discrimination and accommodations at work. Employers are not required to distribute it, but it is worth paying attention to.
Since 2020, the CRD has secured over 80 settlements for workers in religious discrimination cases. That is a consistent volume of complaints, and it tells us this is an area where organizations are still getting it wrong.
California's Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 protect employees and applicants from religious discrimination and harassment, including interns and volunteers. One thing that surprises a lot of employers: the law also covers perception. If someone is treated differently because of what others assume their religion to be, or because of their association with someone who holds certain beliefs, that is covered.
The CRD's examples of what discrimination can look like are worth sharing with your leadership team. Disrupting an employee during silent prayer in the break room. Passing over a qualified employee for promotion based on assumptions tied to their religion. Prohibiting a religious symbol when other jewelry is permitted. Moving someone to an undesirable shift after they raise a faith-based concern. These are the kinds of situations the CRD actually investigates.
When an employee requests a religious accommodation, the obligation mirrors what employers are already required to do for disability accommodations. Engage in the interactive process, have a real conversation about what is possible, and document it. Accommodation can look like scheduling an interview around an applicant's prayer time, adjusting a schedule to align with a religious observance, or allowing an exception to a dress code for religious practice. The bar is not perfection. It is a genuine, good faith effort to explore options.
If your organization believes a requested accommodation would create an undue hardship, do not make that call alone. We can help you think through it.
Religious accommodation does not get as much attention as disability accommodation, but the legal obligations are similar and the CRD is actively enforcing them. If your managers have not been trained on this, now is a good time to revisit it. This is exactly the kind of policy and training work we help organizations get ahead of.