Business // Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion
1. Was this a case of religious discrimination? (Why or why not?)
Strictly speaking, it was not directly a case of religious discrimination. Rather, Kaetoya Watkins’ termination was due to her refusal to obey an official policy for female employees This policy requires them to wear blue jeans for work (Moyer, n.; Scott, 2017)). But records say that she refused to do so because her faith forbids the wearing of pants. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission interpreted this as a violation of its provision against religious discrimination. The provision states that business organizations cannot discriminate against or fire an employee for observing religious beliefs (Moyer, n.d.; Scott, 2017).
2. Did this company fail to reasonably accommodate the employee?
Yes. Firstly, she was offered the job and scheduled to start her employment without being duly informed about the specific company policy. If she was told about it at the outset, she would have expressed the prohibition of her faith concerning pants for women and her fidelity to her faith. She would not have agreed to the job offer or begin work at the restaurant at all. And more so if she already knew about the provisions of the Commission against religious discrimination. If she did, she must have assumed that the company, an EEO member, would accommodate her religious beliefs about wearing pants. Secondly, the company rescinded its offer and terminated her employment when she reported for work for wearing her religion-approved blue skirt. This, in turn, violated the company policy on the official dress code. It was only then that she learned about the company policy. After receiving a voice mail from her manager about the violation that she was not duly informed about beforehand, she reasonably reacted to her manager’s notification by no longer reporting to work and reporting the matter to the EEOC, instead.
3. Was this employee fired based on religious discrimination?
As earlier explained, no Kaetoya Watkins was fired not strictly or directly for observing her religious belief against the wearing of pants. Rather, the company rescinded its job offer and terminated her employment for her refusal to obey the company policy provision on an official dress code. Strictly speaking, Georgia Blue did not terminate her because of her religious beliefs. The company’s claim and defense is true that, as an EEOC member-employer, it has not violated any of its anti-discrimination laws, including religious discrimination. It was simply enforcing its set of policies. Thus, Georgia Blue was justified in feeling disappointed with the EEOC’s filing a lawsuit against it (Moyer, n.d.; Scott, 2017).
4. What can organizations do to prevent this situation from happening in the future?
EEOC member-employers should make all policies clear to all new and prospective employees before hiring them and scheduling the start of their employment (Scott, 2017). Policies touching on religious and cultural beliefs should specifically be tackled in advance between the manager and employees. Application forms should very clearly ask for any religious or cultural beliefs on specific company policies that may be a problem area in the future. One such frequent problem area is a dress code (Scott, 2017).
The EEOC should also be more careful in interpreting complaints and filing lawsuits. It should scrutinize the situation for gray areas while retaining diligence in enforcing anti-discrimination laws in businesses.
For their part, employees should ask about policies that may run against their religious, cultural or other beliefs (Chang, 2016). Not all companies expressly state their policies on such matters in their work manuals and new employees should ask about all company rules and decide right at the start to avoid future problems (Chang, 2016).
WORKS CITED
Chang, K. K. (2016). What companies can do when work and religion conflict. Harvard Business Review: Harvard Business Publishing. Retrieved on October 7, 2017 from
https://hbr.org/2016/03/what-companies-can-do-when-work-and-religion-conflict
Moyer, J. Wm. (n.d.) Mississippi restaurant sued after Christian waitress is allegedly fired for wearing skirt to work. The Washington Post: washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on October 7, 2017 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/28/mississippi-restaurant-sued-after-christian-waitress-is-allegedly-fired-for-wearing-a-skirt-to-work/?utm_term=.094c83c1366c
Scott, S. (2017). An inclusive United States: religious inclusion in the federal workplace. Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion: National Institute of Health. Retrieved on October 7, 2017 from https://www.edi.nih.gov/blog/communities/inclusive-united-states-religious-inclusion-federal-workplace
WORKS CITED
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