Tips For Restaurants, Retailers When Faced With Sabbath Day Requests

Imagine you manage a busy restaurant, and you are working on the schedule for next week. Saturday is your busiest day, and you need all hands on deck, so you need to schedule everyone for that day. Just when you have the schedule finished, an employee approaches you and says she cannot work Saturdays because her religion prohibits working on Saturdays. Not only does she need this Saturday off, but all Saturdays in the future. What do you do?

The scenario above is becoming more common.

For decades, employees have had the right under federal and state laws to request religious accommodations from employment policies, including schedule changes. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and many state laws, employers must accommodate employee sincerely held religious beliefs, as long as it would not create an undue hardship for the employer.