Religious Accommodation Research Paper

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The Choices of Religious Accommodations Richard McGee Robert Morris University Mgt 540: Managing Diverse Organizations June 9, 2013 St. Michael’s the archangel catholic school located on the south side of Chicago is where I attended school. Although my religious denomination is not catholic, they did not discriminate allowing me become a student. However, I did have to participate in religious activities and classes planned by the school. Such activities included prayer before and after classes, religion class for every grade level, and arranged catholic events for the community. I really didn’t mind my involvement in these events because at my younger age I didn’t realize the differences in my Christian denomination and the catholic…show more content…
Their religion shapes them into the person that they go on to be in life. Unlike separation of church and state, different religious views and the workplace come to meet occasionally. This leads one to question if religious accommodations are the rights of a person so they can function at work. A working definition of religious accommodations is needed to clarify the argument for them. According to Bou-Habib’s 2006 article “a ‘right to religious accommodation’, I shall mean; ‘a right to be free of burdens that either impede one’s religious conduct or make it too costly to perform’.” Religious accommodations include job reassignments, flexible scheduling, modifications to workplace policies,…show more content…
Such was the case with the lawsuit Rodriguez v. City of Chicago. Rodriguez is a Chicago police officer whose Roman Catholic faith provides him with beliefs and guidelines against abortion. “Officer Rodriguez informed his watch commander, Captain William Guswiler, of his religious opposition to severing on clinic duty” (Rodriguez v. City of Chicago, No. 95 C 5371). His commanding officer informally adhered to his request until one day the Chicago police department was short staffed. They then sent Rodriguez on clinic duty (protecting the clinic from protesters). He sued the City of Chicago under violation of Title VII claims. The lawsuit was dismissed because “the CBA provided Officer Rodriguez with the option of transferring to a district without an abortion clinic and such a transfer would have the conflict between his job responsibilities and religious beliefs” (Rodriguez v. City of Chicago, No. 95 C 5371). In this case trying to work around the problem that a religious belief may bring up in regards to performing a person’s job responsibility was the right course of action from the Chicago police department. When Rodriguez turned down the transfer he turned down a religious accommodation. In doing so he made the decision that he was going to protect an abortion clinic. I believe officers should also be granted religious accommodations, but

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