The latest annual survey of American Workers and religion by the Tanenbaum Center for Religious Understanding has found that discrimination against Christians, the majority faith in the United States, is becoming increasingly widespread.
The report accompanying the survey implied that business managers have witnessed a rise in religion-related conflicts, including harassment and lack of special religious accommodations as the workforce has become more diverse.
The survey was conducted with more than 2000 adults and found that about a third reported either witnessing or experiencing religious bias. Roughly another third report some form of failure to make special accommodation such as allowing religious clothing, beards, allowing time off on Sabbath and holidays as well as providing a venue for prayer and meditation.
Nearly half of non-Christian respondents reported witnessing or experiencing managements' failure to make accommodations at work. A slight majority of all workers stated that Muslims face greater levels of discrimination, not just in comparison to other religious groups, but including gays and lesbians, racial minorities and women.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), since 2001, almost a quarter of all complaints it has investigated involve bias against Muslims, even though they comprise less than 2 percent of the United States population. Further, discrimination is no longer dominated by issues surrounding dress codes, but has become more personal, in form of name calling and offensive jokes against Muslims. While this discrimination against Muslims is not systematic in nature, it is prevalent between employees and at times between employees and supervisors.
Almost half of white Evangelical Christians have also suffered discrimination, with respondents finding themselves victims of rumors and gossip in the workplace. Recent debates about the rights of gay, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals have heightened conflict between such workers and devout Christians who may consider same-sex relations to be sinful.
If you find yourself in a hostile work environment, because of your religion or any other improper discrimination, contact our Georgia employment discrimination attorneys today for a consultation.