New York Employment Lawyer Blog

Federal anti-discrimination law, the New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL") all protect employees from workplace discrimination based on religious beliefs and practices, and impose an obligation on employers to provide reasonable accommodations for the religious needs and practices of its employees (e.g. for time off to pray or to observe a religious holiday, to wear certain religious garb or symbols, or to accommodate certain dietary restrictions). However, these laws do not require an employer to provide a religious accommodation to its employees if doing so would pose an "undue hardship."

On August 30, 2011, the New York City Workplace Religious Freedom Act was enacted, amending the NYCHRL, and making it more difficult for New York City employers to reject proposed accommodations of employees' religious practices as an "undue hardship." While New York courts have generally interpreted "undue hardship" to mean that employers could deny a religious accommodation request as long as it imposed more than a "de minimus cost or burden" to the employer, the new amendments to the NYCHRL make it clear that a potential accommodation of an employee's religious practice is not an "undue hardship" for the employer unless it requires "significant expense or difficulty."

In addition, the new law identifies factors that should be considered in determining whether an accommodation "constitutes an undue economic hardship," including:

• The identifiable cost of the accommodation in relation to the size and operating costs of the employer. This includes the cost of lost productivity and of retaining or hiring employees or transferring employees from one facility to another.
• The number of individuals who will need the particular accommodation.
• For employers with multiple facilities, the degree to which the geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal relationship of the facilities will make the accommodation more difficult or expensive.

However, the new law also provides that an accommodation would constitute an "undue hardship" if it would result in the inability of an employee to perform the essential functions of his or her position, if it significantly interferes with the safe or efficient operation of the workplace, or if it violates a bona fide seniority system.

All New York City employers must therefore be extremely careful if they are going to deny an employee's request for a religious accommodation due to it being an "undue hardship."

If you are an employee who feels that your employer has violated the NYC Human Rights Law by arbitrarily denying your request for a religious accommodation, it's always smart to immediately consult with a New York City employment attorney to preserve your legal rights.