NT Lakis, on behalf of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), has submitted written comments to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in response to the agency’s proposed update of its compliance guidance on workplace religious discrimination. The proposed changes, in the form of revisions to the chapter in the EEOC’s Compliance Manual addressing religious discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, were published for public comment on November 17, 2020.
Our comments are generally supportive of the proposed revisions, although we do offer some suggestions for improvement. For example, we recommend that the EEOC remove proposed language implying that a failure to accommodate claim can be asserted without an independent adverse action, since this issue is still unresolved in the courts. We also suggest that the EEOC revise its discussion of unwelcome workplace conduct to appropriately acknowledge that there are state and local jurisdictions that require employers to have policies that prohibit unwelcome conduct well before it reaches the actionable “severe or pervasive” standard required under federal law.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.