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Dress Code in Mississippi

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A female employee who is Muslim wants to wear a headscarf at work in Mississippi. I say it’s not appropriate and doesn’t fit our dress code. Who is right?

Courts have supported changes to company dress codes to allow for religious beliefs.

In most cases, the courts have found that under the law, exceptions to the dress code are almost always “reasonable accommodations” and do not involve undue hardship to the employer.

Cases have backed an Islamic woman’s right, on religious grounds, to protect her modesty by wearing a headscarf or other items of clothing.

The operative law here is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it a federal crime to discriminate against people because of their religion. Discrimination might involve firing, hiring, and other aspects of employment.

The law applies only to sincerely held religious beliefs when it requires employers to make reasonable accommodations.

A car rental agency in Phoenix terminated a woman who would not take off her headscarf during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. She filed a claim of religious discrimination through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and received $287,000. The money included a $250,000 penalty for violation of the law as well as back pay and lost wages.

Two Muslim men working for a New Jersey town sued the town because of a dress code demanding that workers be clean-shaven. They argued that their religion required them to wear beards. The court ruled in their favor, determining that an alteration of the dress code was a reasonable accommodation.

What might constitute an undue hardship for an employer? If the accommodations are significantly expensive, a case for undue hardship could be made. If a religious accommodation would mean that an employer must hire an extra full time worker, that would no doubt be ruled an undue hardship. The amounts will vary depending on the size of the company. A $2,000 adjustment might be an undue hardship for a small firm, but $7,000 might be reasonable for a large one.

Consider sitting down and discussing with your employee the kind of accommodation that would be appropriate to her religious needs. An employer may have the right to approve what kind of scarf is worn, but not to require that she work without one. JH