When religious obligations conflict with mandatory overtime

[Erin37]

What is the name of your state? Ohio


I am a devout member of a religion where we honor eight holy days a year. Since we recognize that we live in a Christosentric society, we hold the actual ceremonies on the nearest Sunday to the actual holy day date. Several of these holy days fall within the last month of a fiscal quarter.

For the past 10 years I have worked at the same place (although we have been bought twice, the management has stayed the same all these 10 years). We are sales driven, so the end of a fiscal quarter is a hectic time (I work in production). For the past 10 years I always knew that there would be overtime the last week of each quarter. Then it became the last two weeks. Finally it progressed to the last whole month of every fiscal quarter.

Up until December 2006 it really wasn't much of an issue because the overtime had never been mandatory and I had always pitched in with extra overtime. I just never volunteered for the Sundays where my religious group would be holding its ceremonies. Then last year December management didn't even give anyone a chance to volunteer and made the whole month mandatory overtime...including all Sundays.

Well, I have to admit that I didn't speak up then about the conflict. I have always believed that religion is a personal thing and had never felt the need to tell anyone at work what religion I follow or how. So, when the mandatory overtime came about I decided to "let it slide" because I figured that from past experience that December 2006 was a fluke and would never happen again. I quietly missed a holy day.

Then March 2007 happened. We were told that since beginning of April 1 we would be purchased by another company we needed to put in extra effort to make our former company a fantastic last revenue. This meant that we would be on mandatory overtime for the entire month of March, including Sundays. Again, not wanting to make an issue of something that seemed to be a, now, two time deal, I allowed another of my holy days to go unacknowledged.

June 2007 I figured would be ok since we were now employed with a different company (a company that made it very clear at the divesture that they do NOT approve of overtime...they prefer that enough employees are hired to cover the work load). I was wrong. Again, another entire month of mandatory overtime with no Sundays off. Holy day number three came and went without my participation.

At this point I began to ask around to my co workers about how they are reconciling their religious obligations with this overtime. No one was really had an issue (at least not religiously...everyone was very unhappy about the overtime though). I was told to talk to our Human Resources guy but I didn't feel confortable in going to him because he came with us from our previous employer and has a history of upholding management's stance no matter the circumstances.

Well, the rest of the summer we ended up hiring at least 50 new production employees and we were promised that the days of mandatory overtime had come to an end.

I figured the problem had been solved. September came and went without any overtime.

As December approached we were all called to a production meeting where we were told that beginning December 1, 2007 we were to go on mandatory overtime, all Sundays and holidays included.

I was now faced with a serious quandary. I risked missing another religious obligation. As I was working up the courage to approach my manager and discuss this with him a situation occured to a co worker. This co worker ended up calling off on the first mandatory Saturday because his furnace broke down in the night. He came back to work on Sunday. Well, the very manager I was wanting to talk this over with began a campaign of harrassment against this co worker for having the audacity to call off on a mandatory overtime day. This harrassment led to my co worker quitting rather than go through the hardship of fighting the treatment.

I should mention that this manager has a history of this type of behavior and has been allowed by the previous company to get away with it. Other examples of this manager's passive aggressive management behavior is another co worker having a seizure at work and having to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The manager wrote this employee up and gave him a disciplinary action. And as I said the Human Resources representative upholds whatever this manager says and does.

So, anyways, here I am at the end of December 2007, another holy day missed, and wondering what I can do to go forward in 2008. I think I can take it for granted that in March I will be on mandatory overtime and have to work out a reconciliation between my job and my religion. Naturally I am very afraid to approach my manager and human resources, although I know that approaching my manager is the first step. So, before I go to him I would really like some advice on what my rights are in this situation (if any) and how I should go about being allowed to participate in my holy days when mandatory overtime is in session? I am well aware that I would not be paid for those days should I get them, nor would I ever expect to be paid for those Sundays.What is the name of your state?

 

[treo831]

reply

being a past manger he is playing a game intimidation to scare all of you or he does'nt meet his part of there agreement of production. i would call in sick go to church as in taking a paid sick day that way you are covered. see how it goes from there but be warned
you will now be his target. but soon others will follow opening the door

 

[ecmst12]

Calling in sick is not a protected action. Taking off because of a religious obligation is a protected action. If you are retaliated against for taking off for a religious obligation, you can contact the EEOC and file a discrimination complaint. However the fact that you allowed your job to interfere with your observance SO many times in the past, may have hurt your case.

 

[mitousmom]

You need to ask your employer for a religious accommodation, namely, not to be required to work or work overtime on the days your religious holidays are celebrated. The employer is required to provide the accommodation unless doing so creates an undue hardship. I suggest that you make your request to HR with a courtesy copy to your manager. Your request should specify the dates your holidays are celebrated, so the employer has adequate notice to prepare for your absence.

The sincerity of your religious belief shouldn't be an issue. If your employer denies you the accommodation because it questions your belief, contact EEOC or the state human rights commission for further guidance.

 

[Beth3]

The employer is required to provide the accommodation unless doing so creates an undue hardship. Agreed, although the standard for "undue hardship" is fairly low in religious accommodation situations. For example, your employer is not required to disaccommodate someone else or incur additional overtime expense so that you can take time off.

 

[Erin37]

Talking to Human Resources

I recently contacted Human Resources to ask for religious accommodation. Our HR rep's response was, "If we accommodated your religion then we would have to accommodate everyone's religion. *Companyname* doesn't discriminate against any religion, we just accept that our regular scheduled work time (i.e. mandatory overtime) is on the same days as religious days and that employees have to deal with that."

Should I be going to the EEOC over this or does this fall within the parameters of "undue hardship"? If I do have to go to the EEOC what can I expect (i.e. job termination, etc)?

 

[mitousmom]

HR's response is not consistent with an employer's obligations under Title VII.

I suggest responding in writing to the Director of HR, stating exactly what you were told, and indicating that it's your understanding that an employer is required by federal law to accommodate the religious beliefs/practices of its employees, unless doing so creates an undue hardship. Therefore, you would like appeal the decision made by the HR rep.

If they continue to refuse, I suggest that you contact EEOC.

An employer is prohibited from retaliating against an employee for exercising the statutory rights provided by Title VII. Therefore, you would file a charge with EEOC should your employer terminate you.