Employment Law: Religious Discrimination, Harassment, Segregation, or Failure to Accomodate

Both federal and Texas laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of an employee’s religious practices or beliefs: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Texas Labor Code respectively. 

As with other forms of discrimination, it is illegal for an employer to hire, fire, or affect an employee’s terms or conditions of employment because of the employee’s religion. 

It is also illegal to harass a person because of his or her religion.  Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person's religious beliefs or practices. Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren't very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).  The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.

Additionally, an employer may need to make reasonable accommodations for certain religious practices and beliefs, unless the accommodation creates an undue hardship on the employer. For example, to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs, an employer may need to change an employee’s job assignment, provide flexible scheduling options, accommodate dress and grooming practices, or modify employment testing.

Religious practices and beliefs “include moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.” Additionally, the law protects “personal religious beliefs that are not in the mainstream of religious thought or that are not common to all members of a particular religious group.” 

If you or a loved one have been discriminated against at your place of employment based on religion,  please act quick as you only have 180 days to file a charge or lose your right to any legal recourse.  Feel free to call us for a free consultation by mentioning this post. 

Employment Law Claims During Covid-19 Pandemic

An Employers Deliberate Failure to Protect Workers from Coronavirus Exposure may be Actionable.  Whether or not you were an essential employee during shelter in place orders or returned to the workplace after those orders were lifted, you might have faced an unreasonable risk of COVID-19 exposure if your employer failed to take reasonable steps to minimize that hazard.  

If you or someone you know contracted COVID-19, and you believe your employer was at fault, you might be able to get compensated for your injuries.  On some cases you might be limited to filing a workers compensation claim, but in others where the employer is a non-subscriber you might be looking at a personal injury lawsuit.  

Even if the employer is a subscriber under the Texas Workers Compensation Act, in certain cases regarding the death of the employee, the surviving spouse or heirs of the deceased employee may still bring a personal injury lawsuit for exemplary (punitive) damages against employer if the death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer, or by the employer’s gross negligence.  Texas Labor Code Chapter 408, Section 408.001, reads as follows:          

 

Sec. 408.001.  EXCLUSIVE REMEDY;  EXEMPLARY DAMAGES.  (a)  Recovery of workers' compensation benefits is the exclusive remedy of an employee covered by workers' compensation insurance coverage or a legal beneficiary against the employer or an agent or employee of the employer for the death of or a work-related injury sustained by the employee.

(b)  This section does not prohibit the recovery of exemplary damages by the surviving spouse or heirs of the body of a deceased employee whose death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer or by the employer's gross negligence.

(c)  In this section, "gross negligence" has the meaning assigned by Section 41.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

 

Gross Negligence in turned means an act or omission: which when viewed objectively from the standpoint of the employer at the time of its occurrence involves an extreme degree of risk, considering the probability and magnitude of the potential harm to others. 

Cases where Employers forced their employees to come to the workplace, failed to provide any Personal Protective Equipment, remained open for business during shut down order even though they were not an essential service provider, will certainly met the gross negligence standard. 

If you or your loved one suffered injuries from Covid 19 due to an employer’s gross negligence call Big Dan at (956) 287-3653.