Speechless by Bruce Barry

Speechless by Bruce Barry

Author:Bruce Barry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2011-07-26T00:00:00+00:00


ACCOMMODATING EXPRESSION (RELIGIOUS AND OTHERWISE)

The majority of complaints of employment discrimination protected by civil rights laws are related to the categories of race and sex. In 2005, race (35 percent) and sex (31 percent) were involved in about two-thirds of all employment discrimination charges filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), followed by age (22 percent), disability (20 percent), and national origin (11 percent). Religion accounted for only about 3 percent of discrimination filings. The trends in complaints over a period of several years are revealing. In 2005 the total number of charges filed with EEOC for any reason was almost 14 percent lower than in 1995, with noticeable declines in complaint volume for race, sex, age, and disability. Two categories showed increases: the EEOC took in 48 percent more complaints about religious discrimination and more about national origin in 2005 than it did in 1995.12

Although religion doesn’t account for a large proportion of formal discrimination complaints, it is the category that presents the thorniest problems for issues of expression at work. Perhaps that’s because religion (unlike sex or race or national origin) is a basic activity given explicit attention and protection in the First Amendment. Also, religion, unlike gender or race, is inherently about communication: efforts to convert people across gender lines are, to say the least, difficult, and efforts across racial lines are silly. And let’s not forget that America is a highly religious country. A recent poll finds that over 90 percent of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit; almost 60 percent say religion is very important or extremely important in their daily lives; over half of Americans attend religious services at least monthly and say they read the Bible, Torah, Koran, or other sacred text at least a few times a month; more than four in ten believe the Bible is the actual word of God and should be taken literally; and almost half think that people with strong religious beliefs are discriminated against in the United States.13 Almost one-third of Americans think there is too little religious freedom in the workplace.14145

But the main reason religion raises some of the trickiest workplace speech issues is that religion on the job is by definition expressive. A person’s religion is rooted in something we can’t see or hear or feel—a belief that has no part in a social encounter unless the believer chooses to make it a part. And that requires expression, so the only way religion enters the workplace is when an individual elects to open for others a perceptual window into their religious beliefs. That can occur through words spoken, clothes or symbols worn, or perhaps items used to decorate a physical workspace.

Many difficult situations involving religious expression in the workplace involve grooming or clothing mandated by religious observance, such as facial hair (beards) or head coverings worn by Muslims and Sikhs. Employers will sometimes resist accommodating these forms of religious expression by arguing that a legitimate business interest is behind a prohibition.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.