Is "lack of religion" a protected category?

[commentator]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

Need some educated opinions from my esteemed colleagues here. My son is involved in a job supervised by a very religious woman. Apparently, she mistook him for a like minded soul during the hiring process. Once he was on the job, when she asked pointed questions about his church affiliation and religious practices, invited him repeatedly to visit her church, etc. and he finally told her he was not a practicing believer at this time, she began a very unsubtle program of prosthetizing him, closely affiliated with on the job fault finding and critical supervision designed clearly to get rid of him. "A hostile work environment" in other words.

She made nasty comments on tape related to a person who was homosexual whom my son had attended training with. (Son is not gay, but she may think he is.) He has several incidences of this behavior on tape, (one party taping is legal here) where she has tried to discuss religion with him, invited him to her church, and then later, when this program was respectfully declined, she has begun a really big campaign of write ups and warnings related to his job performance. "Totally error free work" is her criteria for him now.

Meantime she makes no secret of the fact she is grooming a replacement for him, a young person more to her religious taste. She is quite open to his co workers and in the workplace in general about her disdain for people who do not share her right wing political views and religious fervor, and has listed my son as one of those she dislikes for this reason in the presence of several witnesses.

He has other job prospects in process, is about to move on, but in the meantime, do you think he could he legitimately have grounds for an EEOC complaint that he is being harrassed not for his religious beliefs, but his LACK of religious beliefs? We'd like to rattle her cage any way possible other than the usual grievance procedures he is pursuing.

 

[cyjeff]

How many people are there at the workplace?

Is the work religious in origin?

For instance, it is perfectly legal for churches to get away with religious related discrimination that wouldn't be legal for anyone else.

 

[las365]

Does the employer have more than 15 employees?

It is my understanding of the law that discrimination based on religion may refer to discrimination because an employee does or does not follow a particular belief system. In other words, an employer may not discriminate against an employee because the employee is Jewish or because the employee is not Jewish.

There may be some exceptions for positions in which a particular religious belief is an actual qualification (being a pastor comes to mind). I have not worked on many discrimination based on religion cases, but I am pretty sure that I am right about this.

 

[commentator]

The work situation is one technical department in a large state university system, thousands of employees with great emphasis on anti-discrimination in all their official policies.

 

[cbg]

While, "lack of religion" is not listed as a protected category, I think a case could be made that this is discrimination on the basis that your son does not share the manager's religous views, which is illegal. He should discuss the situation with HR as a first step.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I don't think there is a credible argument that merely because one is an atheist or agnostic that it becomes impossible to discriminate against them. I would certainly recommend filing a complaint based on the above.

http://www.state.tn.us/humanrights/forms/THRC_Employ_Discr_Comp.pdf

 

[commentator]

Thanks, y'all. What he'd prefer to to is scare the beejeezuz out of her, thinking she's going to have to deal with all these suits and grievances, and then move on to another job. Of course, he's not going to quit, and he's going to file for his unemployment insurance if it comes to that. After all, he did the job to the very best of his ability!

The interesting thing is that the lady has been doing this for years in this particular department, has had more people fleeing from her supervision than from the plagues of Egypt, and yet it has been allowed to continue unchallenged in a university setting which promotes itself as very liberal.

Does anyone but me see a certain creepiness factor in the fact that she came in with a big ole black Ash Wednesday cross on her forehead last week and called him in and gave him a suspension for not "staying on task" and not having "error free work"?

Quote: "Discriminatory practices under the laws EEOC enforces also include constructive discharge or forcing an employee to resign by making the work environment so intolerable a reasonable person would not be able to stay."

 

[Beth3]

Mom, please answer the question asked above. How many employees does this company have?

 

[ecmst12]

That question was answered above.

 

[las365]

commentator, your son should file his EEOC complaint without delay, and then as you said, keep his head down and do his job well. If he gets fired after the employer gets notice of the EEOC filing, he may have a viable retaliation claim.

 

[tranquility]

The real question is, under the law, what is religion?

For a paper that tries to define the factors, see:

http://www.wrinklybrain.com/WhatIsReligion.pdf

 

[csi7]

Tell the person who files the EEOC complaint that it can take up to six months to get any type of investigation fact findings in document form, and to not share any information with anyone about their specific knowledge of the EEOC complaint.

The complaint is valid - whether or not it can be proven is based upon evidence compiled in the facts findings. The reason the university has not had to deal with this matter in a public review is due to the way the information has been dealt with through human resources, department policies, and lack of independent review by board of education either local government level, state level, and federal level.

Good luck.

 

[Beth3]

That question was answered above.

Oops. I missed that.

Being harassed/discriminated against because of one's religious beliefs or lack thereof is prohibited. Commentator, I think your son ought to start by advising HR what is taking place. I suspect a government employer would be particularly displeased about the religious harangues and harassment that is occurring.

 

[justalayman]

I think commentator's son simply needs to get a little God in his life!! Then all would be well.




just kidding.

 

[commentator]

The ironic thing is, I'm very invested in the "get a little God in his life" thing for my son, besides in his other parts! This job has actually been a setback in that progression! But I'm very serious about this, even though he like so many before him, just wants to mark it down to a bad experience and move on, I think someone should really jerk a knot in this woman's tail. She's probably been covered up for long enough by the HR department and her immediate supervisors that she's almost in an age protected class herself, and when that happens, it'll be harder to do.

The stories he's heard from prior employees are pretty spectacular. (I know, I know, none of them apply to his particular case) And walking into the office there is sort of like walking into an M. Night Shyamalan movie (The Village) what with all the holy roller hairdos and Bibles and religious icons scattered around. She's sort of a little cult leader and takes pride in being so.

Perhaps he will not be willing to carry this forward after he does resign to accept another position, but it does appear to be a blatant clear cut case of discrimination for LACK of religion. Thanks everyone for feed back, opportunity to vent a little.

Thanks, tranquility, my son and I both enjoyed your article. Deeeeep subject, but relevant.