Oregon employers must consider religious beliefs.Byline: ON THE JOB Bureau of Labor & Industries For The Register-Guard Question: We are a flower delivery company, and Saturday is one of our busiest days. Today we got an unusual request from Aaron, one of our new drivers. He says he has just joined a religion that forbids working on Saturdays, and he wants us to stop scheduling him on Saturdays for the indefinite INDEFINITE. That which is undefined; uncertain. INDEFINITE, NUMBER. A number which may be increased or diminished at pleasure. 2. When a corporation is composed of an indefinite number of persons, any number of them consisting of a majority of those future. I am of the opinion that we do not have an obligation to start giving him Saturdays off. He has been employed with us for over a year and has never complained before about working on Saturdays. Besides, we let all of our employees know during the interview process that they are frequently required to work on that day, and it doesn't seem fair that Aaron should get preferential pref·er·en·tial adj. 1. Of, relating to, or giving advantage or preference: preferential treatment. 2. treatment. Do we have to give him that day off? Answer: All Oregon employers have an obligation to reasonably accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of an applicant or employee, unless to do so would cause an undue hardship undue hardship Social medicine A term used in the context of the ADA, in which an employer may claim that the accommodations required to comply with the ADA are financially unviable and represent an undue hardship. for the employer. A religious belief is considered to be sincerely held if the individual can demonstrate a strict adherence to the belief. The accommodation requested by an employee must also be based on the employee's adherence to a practice that is a tenet TENET. Which he holds. There are two ways of stating the tenure in an action of waste. The averment is either in the tenet and the tenuit; it has a reference to the time of the waste done, and not to the time of bringing the action. 2. of the employee's religious beliefs, as opposed to the employee's preference. It sounds like Aaron is Aaron ben Nisi was a Jewish ruler of the Khazars mentioned in the Khazar Correspondence. He reigned around the year 900 CE. Little is known about his reign. As with other Bulanid rulers, it is unclear whether Aaron was Khagan or Khagan Bek of the Khazars, although the latter is saying that not working on Saturday isn't a matter of his personal convenience, but is in fact a requirement of his faith. Therefore, you probably do have an obligation to determine if you can take him off the Saturday schedule without creating an undue hardship to yourself and the company. So how do you determine what is reasonable and what is an undue hardship? Historically, the standard for determining undue hardship with respect to religious accommodation has been dramatically different than that in situations where an employee is requesting an accommodation for a disability. To establish an undue hardship in disability cases, employers generally must show that the proposed accommodation would result in significant expenditures or would fundamentally alter the nature of the employer's business. By contrast, federal and Oregon courts have found that employers could prevail in religious accommodation cases where they were able to establish that the requested accommodation would create more than a de minimus (minimal) expense. In April of this year, however, the Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the Oregon Supreme Court, and tax court cases, it has jurisdiction to hear all civil and criminal appeals from circuit courts, appears to have set a new standard for undue hardship in our state. Nakashima v. Board of Education involved the Portland Adventist Academy's request to reschedule re·sched·ule tr.v. re·sched·uled, re·sched·ul·ing, re·sched·ules To schedule again or anew: rescheduled the meeting for the following week; rescheduled the debts of many developing nations. a state basketball tournament so that they would not have to play on their Sabbath. The Oregon Schools Activities Association and the Board of Education refused this request, stating that it would create more than a de minimus hardship. The Oregon court, however, ruled that the accommodation would have to be granted unless it would result in significant difficulty or expense. The ruling in Nakashima is still being appealed and the final outcome remains to be seen, but at this time the Nakashima ruling remains in effect, moving Oregon in the direction of requiring more than the longstanding de minimus standard. What about the fact that Aaron was told in the interview that he would sometimes have to work on Saturdays and he agreed to this? The fact is that people sometimes change their religious preferences, and they have a right to do so. This does not affect their right to request and receive reasonable accommodation Reasonable accommodation is a legal term used in Canada, which is the legal obligation to modify a law or a norm when it is contrary to fundamental rights stipulated in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. . To determine if Aaron's request might create an undue hardship, BOLI BOLI Bank-Owned Life Insurance BOLI Bureau of Labor and Industries or a court would look at factors such as: how many employees the company has; how much customer service might be impeded im·pede tr.v. im·ped·ed, im·ped·ing, im·pedes To retard or obstruct the progress of. See Synonyms at hinder1. [Latin imped (if at all), and; how much, if any, monetary loss the employer would suffer as a result of the requested accommodation. Employers have a right to ask employees who request religious accommodation for verification that the accommodation is required to enable the employee to satisfy a tenet of the religion. A letter from a pastor, affirming that the employee's requested act (or omission omission n. 1) failure to perform an act agreed to, where there is a duty to an individual or the public to act (including omitting to take care) or is required by law. Such an omission may give rise to a lawsuit in the same way as a negligent or improper act. ) satisfies a tenet of the employee's religion, is an example of the type of verification to which an employer is entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: . For more information on this and other important issues affecting Oregon employers, including seminars conducted by BOLI's Technical Assistance Unit, visit our Web site at www.oregon.gov/boli/ta. You may also call us at 971-673-0824. |
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