Religious Expression in the Workplace
February 2006
You are the Chief of the State Division of Vehicular Licensing with 1,250
employees located at six district offices. The Director of District 2 approaches
you about a thorny problemwhat to do about providing employees who are Muslims
a suitable time of the day to worship. The problem began on October 30th when
the state shifted from Central Daylight Savings Time to Central Standard Time.
As it turns out, the “fall back” of the clock pulled the Muslim sunset prayer
back into the work hours.
A group of Muslim co-workers requested that the District office allow them to
conduct their sunset prayer at 5 p.m. The District office closes at 6 p.m. The
group said that they would be willing to work from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to
make up for the time lost.
The Director is unsure what other Districts have done and does not know if
state law does or does not require public agencies to accommodate employees’
religious beliefs. It is, of course, clear to all that public agencies cannot
promote religious beliefs and practices but this is not quite the same thing.
As the Division Chief, you inform the Director that other District offices have
not faced this issue before. Moreover, state law is reasonably clearemployers
(public and private) must accommodate employees’ religious beliefs as long as
the requests are reasonable and do not create a hardship for the agency.
As you begin to sort through the situation, you ask yourself--is the request by
the workers reasonable? Would shifting the sunset prayer hour to 5 p.m. create a
hardship for the District Office of Vehicular Licensing? [Remember that the
primary work of the District Office is to issue licenses to the public on a
first come, first serve basis.] Would agreeing to the request be viewed as
favoritism toward one group of employees? If so, would this create morale
problems? What recommendation should I make to the District Director?