Question

Forced Religious Participation in the Workplace

Asked 14 June 2012 · 1 answer

The question

I have recently been "let go" from a company in Ohio

where it was manditory to participate in regular

religious (christian) activities. My creepy boss/owner

uses the bible as a control mechanism, exploiting it as

a means of maintaining some sort of integrity/moral

confinement in the workplace. For him, it makes it

easier to lead/control people while only present 10-15

hours per week. He claimed that our reason for

separation was because he needed someone who was more

qualified, which is obsurred. I worked well with the

team and excelled with my performance. The company has

about 10 employees and most of them are brainwashed

victims of his cult-like leadership. He is verbally

abusive and constantly illustrates malicious behavior.

The majority of our forced participation took place in

bi-weekly 2-3 hour, paid, biblical sessions, as a

group, in a conference room, with a pastor conducting

the sessions. These gatherings were very awkward for

me and I normally just went with the flow. I pretended

like the material was just philosophy and never spoke

or wrote about "God" or biblical terminology

specifically. Typically, one of the team members would

open with prayer and then the pastor would advise us to

open a bible (or smart device application) and

reference a pre-determined bible scripture that he and

the owner chose for the topic of the session. We would

take turns reading paragraphs from the scripture. A

group discussion followed for about a half hour,

then required the team to write in response to the

scripture and its relevance to our workplace. We then

proceeded with sharing our thoughts openly. There was

usually an awkward vibe that existed amongst the team,

especially when we were forced to "fan eachother's

flame", meaning we had to take turns saying great

things about eachother, openly, in a group setting.

After the first hour, we would split up into pairs and

elaborate on a specific concept based on the general

topic of discussion. We were usually confused and had

to be creative to make any sense of it. Then we would

go back into the conference room to share our results.

These meetings typically followed this general format,

and also included assignments that required us to build

and maintain a portfolio that focused on the bible's

influence on our personal lives. There is definitely a

lot more to it, but you get the picture. I'm pretty

sure the owner resented me because of my lack of

participation and insubordination. I refused to

participate in most of the personal assignments, mainly

because it required me to spend a bunch of time after

work, unpaid, and also because I didn't feel

comfortable sharing my personal information with my

manger/peers. I guess you could say I was

"insubordinate" in that regard. I sincerely feel that

I was discrimitated against, for failing to complete

extra curricular (unpaid) tasks as well as a lack of

religious participation on my behalf. The company

doesn't have an employee manual or any formal

documentation that outlines policies. I have never

been written up or reprimanded. I don't even know if I

was terminated or laid off. What I do know is that

this scumbag should not be able to get away with what

he's doing. Any suggestions?

From the LawyerCentral forum archive. Originally posted 14 June 2012 on a legal forum that has closed. Names and contact details were removed. See the original (Internet Archive).

1 answer

Visitor answer 11 February 2013

I think you have two possible claims, although both of them need further information. The first one is forced overtime and the second is religious discrimination.

Forced overtime might apply if the employer is holding you after hours, but overtime laws trigger only if you are forced to work over eight hours a day. The overtime laws won't stop your employer from forcing you to attend these...sessions, but they will force your employer to pay extra for attending them.

As for religious discrimination, anti-religious discrimination laws in the United States focus on preventing employers from infringing on the rights of employees to practice their religion. Although the laws do restrict an employer from forcing religion on employees, the cases are generally better if the employee already has a faith and the employer is trying to change that faith. The definition of religious discrimination in the legal system often precludes non-believers from bringing claims simply because an employer wants faith in the workplace.

It is also important to note that anti-discrimination laws trigger based on the number of employees a company has. The typical law for a case like this, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, triggers when a company has 15 or more employees. This doesn't have to automatically disqualify a case like yours, but you have to extend the definition of "employee" here in order to meet the 15 employee requirement if you want to bring a claim under the Civil Rights Act.

Finally, you should present your case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to see if you can obtain a right to sue letter if you want to bring a religious discrimination claim. If you want to pursue forced overtime or an employment practice other than discrimination, you must go to the National Labor Relations Board. Best of luck.

I am not an attorney. Please see a lawyer for legal advice.

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