Religion

Questions in this section (click on question):

31. For the purpose of accommodation, what defines a religion?
32. How do you know that a practice is a requirement of a religion?
33. How far can an employer go to find out?
34. What is an employer’s responsibility to accommodate non-Christian religious observances and practices?

31. For the purpose of accommodation, what defines a religion?

Although the ground of religion is not defined in the Act, the Supreme Court of Canada has held religion to be about sincere and "deeply held personal convictions or beliefs connected to an individual’s spiritual faith and integrally linked to his or her self-definition and spiritual fulfilment, the practices of which allow individuals to foster a connection with the divine or with the subject or object of that spiritual faith".
(Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem, 2004 SCC 47 CanLII.)

Religion may not necessarily involve an organized system of worship, nor faith in a deity per se.

For purposes of accommodation, the definition of religion may also include people who do not hold religious beliefs or follow religious practices.¹⁵

¹⁵ Kurvits v. Canada (Treasury Board) (1991) 14 CHRR D/469 (C.H.R.T).

32. How do you know that a practice is a requirement of a religion?

Most requests for religious accommodation can be accepted without question as they involve employees who demonstrate a sincere belief in an established religion and involve well-known religious requirements, such as not working on their Sabbath, needing time to pray or not wearing head gear.

An individual is not required to prove that his or her religious beliefs are valid, that is, that they are objectively recognized as valid by other members of the same religion or by religious officials. For this reason, it is not appropriate to ask an employee to provide evidence that a particular practice or belief is required by a religion. It is appropriate to inquire into the sincerity of the belief. Sincerity can be assessed by analyzing whether the alleged religious belief is consistent with the individual’s other current religious practices. Therefore where an employee’s religious belief is less clear, the employer can inquire into the sincerity of the belief by considering the following:

• the spiritual or moral nature of the belief, or both;
• previous religious experience;
• the relationship between those previous religious beliefs and current beliefs;
• the connection between the religious belief and the requested accommodation; and
• the extent to which the religious beliefs are applied in the employee’s daily life.

33. How far can an employer go to find out?

Where the information provided is not enough for the employer to decide how to accommodate the employee, it may request additional information, either from the employee or from a designated official within the employee’s religious community. This inquiry should be restricted to information for accommodation.

To help this process, employers should accommodate religious beliefs when they adopt workplace policies governing break times, leave days and work schedules. Under this policy, employees requiring accommodation would write out their request, identifying the belief that needs to be accommodated and the accommodation they require.

34. What is an employer’s responsibility to accommodate non-Christian religious observances and practices?

Under the Act, an employer should accommodate religious belief when an employee’s religious beliefs or practices conflict with a workplace requirement, qualification or practice. The accommodation may modify a rule or exempt an employee from it. Dress codes, break policies, scheduling and recruitment procedures may affect some employees because of their religious beliefs, unless these employees are accommodated.

Dress codes

Workplaces frequently have rules about dress. Employees may have to wear protective equipment or a uniform, or there may be rules about head coverings. These rules may come into direct conflict with religious dress requirements creating a duty to accommodate the employee to the point of undue hardship.

In most situations, the uniform can be modified to accommodate the employee’s religious observances. If the uniform is used for health or safety reasons, however, employers must look for ways to alter the requirement or the protective clothing to maintain a reasonable level of safety while meeting the employee’s religious requirements. See Question #11 (What if accommodation involves workplace health and safety risks?)

Break policies

Sometimes, an employee’s regular work hours or specific duties conflict with their religious requirement to pray at particular times of the day. Employers have a duty to accommodate the employee’s religious requirements. Possible accommodations include a modified break policy, flexible hours, a private area for devotions or both.

Non-Christian religious holidays

The employer has a duty to grant requests for religious leave unless doing so would cause undue hardship for the employer. Employees can do this by switching shifts, banking time, taking holiday leave or making other scheduling changes.

The law is not clear as to whether an employer must give paid leave for religious holidays. In one case, involving teachers, the Supreme Court required that a school board give paid leave to Jewish teachers who required leave for their high holidays, but this may not apply in all employment situations.¹⁶

Some employers provide non-Christian employees with at least the same number of paid religious days as are provided for Christians. The Canada Labour Code, Part III requires employers to provide a paid day off to all employees for the Christian holidays of Christmas Day and Good Friday. Many collective agreements require employers to provide Easter Monday as a paid holiday. Requests for paid leave days for other religious holidays may be accommodated by providing floating leave days or unpaid leave.

Flexible scheduling

An employer can accommodate employees whose religious beliefs do not permit them to work certain hours or days of the week. For example, Seventh Day Adventists and Jews observe a Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Flexible scheduling may include alternative arrival and departure times on the days when the person cannot work the entire period, or the employee can trade lunch times for early departure or staggered work hours. If the employee has no time off left, the employer should consider letting the employee make up time lost or use floating days off.

¹⁶ Commission Scolaire de Chambly v Bergevin, (1994) 3 S.C.R 525, 94 CLLC 17,203