School Districts Should Handle Religious Accommodation Requests by Employees with Care

By Jackie Wernz

At a time of year when a number of important religious holidays are still fresh on our minds, it is important to remember that requests by school district employees for accommodations for religious purposes should be handled with care to avoid costly settlements or other legal actions.

Last fall, the Department of Justice settled a lawsuit with an Illinois school district that serves as a reminder of the delicacy of religious accommodation requests. The Department filed the lawsuit on behalf of a Muslim school district employee who requested an unpaid leave of absence in December 2008 to perform Hajj, a pilgrimage required by her religion, Islam.  The Department alleged that the employer not only denied the employee’s request, but refused to engage in any meaningful, interactive process to understand and work with the employee on how her religious beliefs could be accommodated without unduly burdening the employer.  Specifically, the school district had an inflexible policy under which it always refused to grant requests for leave by non-tenured teachers for religious purposes unless the leave was specifically provided for in the district’s leave policy.  Because her request was denied, the employee was forced to take unapproved leave and was discharged from her job.

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court, in which it argued that the school district forced the employee to choose between her religion and her job.  In agreeing to settle the lawsuit, the school district agreed to pay the employee $75,000 and to train its board members and relevant employees to ensure that future requests would be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

In light of this settlement, school districts should review their leave policies to ensure that they provide for case-by-case analysis of requests for religious accommodations.  School districts should also consider training school board members, supervisors, managers, administrators, and human resources officials on religious accommodation issues.