Religion in the workplace
Religion in the workplace

Heather Oarr
SOC 120
Professor Dorienne Neptune

Heather Oarr
SOC 120
Professor Dorienne Neptune

Even though some people may think that religion has no place in the workplace, religious exceptions should be allowed in the workplace because in accordance with Relativism it is in our culture to follow the constitutional right of freedom of religion, in accordance with utilitarianism the majority of people have some religious conviction that interferes with work, and in accordance with deontology we have a duty to uphold a persons constitutional right to freedom of religion. As the workplaces is continuing to become a more diverse place, religion is becoming a major workplace issue. Employees of diverse religious backgrounds may request accommodations to practice their own daily religious activities or to follow their own religious beliefs. Under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers must allow reasonable accommodations for religious requests that are based specifically on employees' sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless is so doing it would impose an particularly undue hardship on the business and its operations. In addition, employers must make sure that their employees are not harassed or discriminated against on the basis of religion (Levy, 1). Freedom of religion takes many forms in the workplace. For example: Sikhs may feel a religious obligation to wear a turban at work. Male Muslims may wish to wear a beard, Wiccans may want to work on a Christian holiday in exchange for having one of their sabbats off work, a Jew might want to leave work early on Friday night to attend a religious service, in exchange for working overtime earlier in the week or a Christian, employed on a rotating shift, might wish to have every Sunday off work. The concepts of freedom of speech and freedom of religion are concepts that Americans hold dear and that are protected under the Constitution and federal and state laws. According to our book "Relativism is the idea that one's beliefs and values are understood in terms of one's society, culture, or even one's own individual values" (Mosser, 1.7). Therefore; it is part of our culture to believe and uphold the constitution of America. In it it says that everyone gets the freedom of religion. This information can be found in our first amendment. Also while on the subject of Relativism, one might consider that a person's religion is part of their culture. Therefore, according to a religious person it is ethically correct to observe one's religious observances because it is part of their culture. The core idea of utilitarianism is that an idea is right if the results in greatest number of people in a society or a group being happy (Mosser 1.6). In the workplace, the idea of this concept is if one behaves in a way that is proper at work, then logically one will be able to achieve professional happiness. By making ethically correct decisions, your happiness will increase. However, if one chooses to do something ethically wrong, despite the legality, one's happiness will decrease (Mosser 1.6). In Utilitarianism there is a black and white, if you will, of what is ethically correct. In the world of someone who uses utilitarian ethics, there are no shades of gray, either something is right or wrong. At work, utilitarianism is shown by working to make sure the workplace is a happy environment for one's co-workers to be in, and then make it so for yourself (Mosser 1.6).
How dose this all relate to Religion in the workplace? Well; the majority of people have some sort of religious practices weather it's Christian, Muslim, Wicca, or Hindu, or something else that I may not have mentioned. Therefore the majority would want their religious observances taken into account by their employer and their fellow employees.

Works Cited
Levy, T. I. (2000). Religion in the workplace. Management Review, 89(2), 38.

Mosser, K. (2013). Ethics and social responsibility (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Von Bergen, C. W. Religion in the Workplace