How Much Do I Need to Accommodate an Employee’s Religion?

Inc.com columnist Alison Green answers questions about workplace and management issues—everything from how to deal with a micromanaging boss to how to talk to someone on your team about body odor.

Here’s a roundup of answers to three questions from readers.

1. How much do I need to accommodate employees’ religion?

I was curious about where the line is on religious accommodation, and at what point it’s OK to say an accommodation cannot be made.

I had an employee who needed an accommodation that allowed them to take lunch at a different time from the rest of the company once a week. This was somewhat inconvenient but I was able to accommodate them. Later, they let me know that they were going to need additional accommodations, which again were doable but inconvenient. I also noticed that their work performance suffered during certain times when they told me they needed to fast for their religion. They didn’t make me aware of any of these needed accommodations until they’d been hired and working for a couple of weeks. At one point, someone suggested that in order for me to accommodate this employee, I should to work additional hours myself.

Ultimately, I was able to accommodate this employee with minimal frustration, but what if it hadn’t been as easy? What if there’d been a standing meeting that they were needed for during the time they needed to take their lunch that couldn’t be easily moved? I want to be as supportive and flexible as possible but at what point am I able to say “this goes past reasonable”?

Green responds:

The law says employers must accommodate employees’ religious needs unless it would cause “undue hardship.” The bar for undue hardship is high—generally something that’s costly, compromises people’s safety, requires others to do more than their share of difficult or undesirable work, or infringes on other employees’ rights. Moving a meeting is unlikely to meet that bar, although you having to work more hours probably would.

If the person’s performance suffered when they were fasting, I’d look at how you handle it when someone else’s performance suffers because they’re sick, tired, hungry, etc. Presumably you figure that everyone has ups and downs, and unless it becomes a pattern, it’s generally just part of working with humans. (I’m assuming the fasting periods were relatively rare. If they weren’t, then you’d address the performance issues just like you would any other—no need to bring the fasting into it.)

But it’s absolutely fine that the employee didn’t address the accommodations they needed until a few weeks on the job. There’s no requirement, ethical or legal, that they address it earlier than that. (Keep in mind that you can’t legally rescind a job offer over it, so there’s no real reason you needed to hear it earlier; it’s fine for them to raise it when they’re comfortable raising it.)

2. Is it reasonable to expect a multiyear commitment for an entry-level job?

I am hiring someone whose work will be split 50-50 between the department I manage and another department. Both of us really need a full-time person, but the budget won’t stretch that far this year, so this is meant to be a stopgap until we stabilize a bit more. The other manager has decided she wants someone to commit for a minimum of two years, ideally three. The problem is that the job we’re hiring for is very entry-level. It’s half clerical data-entry work and half work that is more skilled/creative—but (in my opinion) anyone with the skills to do the more creative side of the job isn’t going to want to stick around in the data-entry side long-term.

I think that’s normal and I’ve designed my half of the position to be easily replaceable, with the expectation that we’ll have to hire someone new at some point. But the other manager claims that it will take a full year (!) just for the new hire to learn the job, especially the new database system, so there’s no point hiring someone who will leave after a year.

I have a candidate who I think would be phenomenal. Right now she works for me part-time as an intern, but she has an incredible skill set that would allow her to do both jobs (which are quite different). But, since she’s graduating this year, she doesn’t know how long she wants to stay. I think it would be better to hire her in the short term because she could do a lot of good while she’s here. The other manager would rather have someone less skilled but competent who sticks around longer. Which option is more reasonable?

Green responds:

Normally I’d agree with you for all the reasons you laid out, but if this particular candidate is graduating this year, does that mean she might leave you in May or June? If so, I can’t blame your colleague for not wanting to hire someone who might leave that quickly; she’d be starting the hiring and training process all over again after just a few months.

But beyond this one candidate, point out to the other manager asking someone to commit to three years for an entry-level job is out of step with what most employers ask and will lose you good candidates. Maybe there’s a compromise—18 months wouldn’t be unreasonable. (That said, keep in mind that you can’t lock people in. You can tell them what you’re hoping for and decline to hire anyone who makes it clear they’re likely to leave before that, but unless you’re signing a contract with them—which would be unusual in the U.S.—they’re going to leave when they want to leave.)

3. CC-ing a manager to compliment their employee

A colleague asked me to help make his work with me more visible to his manager. We talked about me sending him an email thanking him for some recent work he did and cc-ing his manager, but it feels really awkward. I rarely talk to his manager, so there’s no natural opportunity for me to mention how he’s doing a good job. Any suggestions on writing an appreciative email, or other ways I could help show his manager that his work for my department is valued?

Green responds:

If you think he genuinely does good work, it’s a great idea to let his manager know! It doesn’t matter that you rarely talk to her; managers generally are thrilled to get this kind of feedback about their teams, and it won’t seem odd. You could do it as a cc, where you email the co-worker an appreciative note and cc his boss, or you could just directly email her to say something like, “I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate Leo’s work on the X project.” Then give specifics about what he did that was so great—found solutions to tricky problems, persevered around obstacles, produced a better X than you’ve seen before, wowed clients, made a difficult project easy, whatever it was. The more specific you can be, the better.

But you want this to be genuine. If you aren’t that impressed with the colleague’s work, it’s not something you should do as a favor (since if, for example, his work is consistently subpar, it will reflect oddly on you to rave about it—unless you can find something that you can truly speak well of).

Want to submit a question of your own? Send it to alison@askamanager.org.

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