Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2005

Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2005 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to modify the definition of "religion" for purposes of coverage under that Act by requiring employers to make an affirmative and bona fide effort to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of employees. Defines the term "perform the essential functions" to exclude practices having a temporary or tangential impact on an employee's ability to perform job functions, such as practices relating to clothing or taking time off work. Sets forth factors to consider in determining whether an accommodation causes undue hardship. Defines "employee" to require an ability to perform essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

Requires removal of the conflict between employment requirements and the employee's religious practices in order for an accommodation to be considered reasonable.

Considers an employer's refusal to permit an employee's use of general leave to remove a religious conflict solely because the leave will be used to accommodate religious practices to be an unlawful employment practice.

States that the amendments made by this Act do not apply with respect to conduct occurring prior to enactment.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 677 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 677

    To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to establish 
 provisions with respect to religious accommodation in employment, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2005

 Mr. Santorum (for himself, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
   Brownback, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Smith, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Talent, Mr. 
  Corzine, Mr. Coburn, and Mr. Hatch) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to establish 
 provisions with respect to religious accommodation in employment, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
(42 U.S.C. 2000e(j)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)'';
            (2) by inserting ``, after initiating and engaging in an 
        affirmative and bona fide effort,'' after ``unable'';
            (3) by striking ``an employee's'' and all that follows 
        through ``religious'' and inserting ``an employee's 
        religious''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) In this subsection, the term `employee' includes an 
employee (as defined in subsection (f)), or a prospective employee, 
who, with or without reasonable accommodation, is qualified to perform 
the essential functions of the employment position that such individual 
holds or desires.
    ``(B) In this paragraph, the term `perform the essential functions' 
includes carrying out the core requirements of an employment position 
and does not include carrying out practices relating to clothing, 
practices relating to taking time off, or other practices that may have 
a temporary or tangential impact on the ability to perform job 
functions, if any of the practices described in this subparagraph 
restrict the ability to wear religious clothing, to take time off for a 
holy day, or to participate in a religious observance or practice.
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `undue hardship' means an 
accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense. For purposes 
of determining whether an accommodation requires significant difficulty 
or expense, factors to be considered in making the determination shall 
include--
            ``(A) the identifiable cost of the accommodation, including 
        the costs of loss of productivity and of retraining or hiring 
        employees or transferring employees from 1 facility to another;
            ``(B) the overall financial resources and size of the 
        employer involved, relative to the number of its employees; and
            ``(C) for an employer with multiple facilities, the 
        geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal 
        relationship of the facilities.''.
    (b) Employment Practices.--Section 703 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
2000e-2) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(o)(1) In this subsection:
            ``(A) The term `employee' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 701(j)(2).
            ``(B) The term `leave of general usage' means leave 
        provided under the policy or program of an employer, under 
        which--
                    ``(i) an employee may take leave by adjusting or 
                altering the work schedule or assignment of the 
                employee according to criteria determined by the 
                employer; and
                    ``(ii) the employee may determine the purpose for 
                which the leave is to be utilized.
    ``(2) For purposes of determining whether an employer has committed 
an unlawful employment practice under this title by failing to provide 
a reasonable accommodation to the religious observance or practice of 
an employee, for an accommodation to be considered to be reasonable, 
the accommodation shall remove the conflict between employment 
requirements and the religious observance or practice of the employee.
    ``(3) An employer shall be considered to commit such a practice by 
failing to provide such a reasonable accommodation for an employee if 
the employer refuses to permit the employee to utilize leave of general 
usage to remove such a conflict solely because the leave will be used 
to accommodate the religious observance or practice of the employee.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
and the amendments made by section 2 take effect on the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Application of Amendments.--The amendments made by section 2 do 
not apply with respect to conduct occurring before the date of 
enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>