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I need to encourage a manager to accept a religious accommodation request, as it is reasonable, in my opinion. The employee, who is Balinese Hindu, has requested a 10-minute prayer break at noon as part of her religion. The manager says no, as this is during a lunch rush in our restaurant. What have you said to your leaders that has helped them come around to accepting a request? 

Before we get to convincing the manager, let’s go over the rules and guidelines that apply here and in any religious accommodation situation. For an employee to be eligible for religious accommodation in California, the business must employ five or more employees. I assume that is the case here. (Federal law requires 15, but California has a lower threshold.)

Then there are multiple laws at play. On the federal level, you have Title VII of the Civil Rights Code; in California, you have the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, or FEHA. Both apply here, and both require you to grant an accommodation as long as it is reasonable. The Law Offices of Jeremy Pasternak explains that “California employers are required to provide accommodation unless it imposes a significant difficulty or expense on the business.”

Similarly, the Supreme Court ruled last summer in Groff V. DeJoy that for a business to deny a religious accommodation, it must “show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” It’s going to be really hard to argue that having one employee take a short break around noon is going to cause “significant difficulty or expense” or “substantial increased costs.”

Of course, there can be a situation where this is true. If she’s the only employee working at this time, then that could be considered a substantial burden to close right as the lunch rush begins, but since you said that it is reasonable, in your opinion, I doubt that is the case.

Another catch is that this needs to be a sincerely held belief. That doesn’t mean it has to be part of a specific religion, and you can’t ask her religious leader to provide a note. Many people make the mistake of asking the employee to prove that this is a doctrine of their formal religion; that’s not required and can get you into trouble. But this rule allows you to decline giving this accommodation to other employees if they see their colleague getting it and decide they want a break during the lunch rush, too.  

With all that information, what do you tell the manager who is pushing back on this?

The easy thing to do is say, “Look, buddy, I don’t care whether you like this or not; it’s the law, and we have to do it,” but you’ve probably tried that. You can also appeal to the manager’s financial sense by bringing up how expensive lawsuits are. Or you can have an employment attorney charge the manager $600 an hour to say, “You have to do this.”

But I suspect there may be an easier and less expensive solution.

“Bob,” you say, “what is your concern about allowing our employee 10 minutes to pray?”

And then listen. There may be things going on that you are not aware of, like he’s getting pushback from corporate about wait times during the lunch rush, or he’s had multiple requests for breaks at that time and he doesn’t want to look like he’s playing favorites. He may fear that if he allows one employee to do this, everyone suddenly will announce they need time to pray. He may be ill-informed about world religions or hold biases. 

Whatever it is, you need to understand where he’s coming from if you are going to help alleviate his concerns. You can give him the facts: One 10-minute break at noon won’t change the overall problems with the lunch rush. That is a separate challenge. As for everyone wanting the same break time, the law doesn’t require an employer to give religious accommodations to employees who don’t hold the relevant religion. 

Stay firm and call the lawyer if necessary. Try to assuage his fears but emphasize that it’s the law to give religious accommodations, in addition to being both reasonable and respectful.  

Have a dilemma for the Evil HR Lady? Send questions to evilhrlady@gmail.com.

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