Kentucky and Ohio Employers cannot discriminate against employees or applicants because of their religion or request for a religious accommodation. Even if you are an at-will employee, you have rights. Kentucky, Ohio, and Federal law prohibits employment discrimination because of religion.
Kentucky and Ohio Employers Cannot Discriminate Against Employees Because of their Religion!
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. Title VII also protects employees and applicants from harassment and retaliation because of an employee’s religion.
“It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer. . .to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”
42 U.S. Code § 2000e–2
Most private employers that employ at least 15 employees working at least 20 weeks a year and public employers must follow the requirements of Title VII. Unfortunately, Title VII’s protections do not apply to independent contractors (are you an independent contractor?).
Employers (the company) can be held accountable for the discrimination, retaliation, and harassment under Title VII. However, courts will not typically hold managers, officers, supervisors personally liable under Title VII. Employers can even be liable when customers harass employees under a Third-Party Harassment Theory.
An employee is typically protected for doing the following acts:
- Praying
- Following diary rules
- Refraining from working on the sabbath
- Wearing religious clothes
If an employer is a “minister,” an employee may not have protections under Title VII for religious discrimination. And employees at religious corporations, associations, and educations institutions are generally not provided protections under Title VII for religious discrimination. For example, teachers at a religious school may not be protected under Title VII.
Title VII prevents employers from making adverse employment decisions because of an employee’s race, color, national origin, religion. Examples of adverse employment decisions are:
- Terminating an employee
- Forcing the employee to quit (known as Constructive Discharge)
- Demoting an employee
- Failing to promote an employee
- Refusing to hire an employee
- Making derogatory statements about the employee’s religion
Title VII also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees for their religious beliefs as long as the accommodation is not an undue burden on the employer.
If an employee suffered an adverse employment decision because of an employee’s religion they can bring a claim under Title VII. To make a claim under Title VII, the process begins with an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “EEOC” charge before a lawsuit cannot be filed until the employee files this charge with the EEOC. During the EEOC process, there is an opportunity to resolve and settle the claims. If a resolution cannot be reached, the EEOC process ends with a right-to-sue letter. After the employee receives the right to sue letter, they have 90 days to file a lawsuit. It is very important to speak with an experienced employment lawyer before you file an EEOC charge of discrimination.
Kentucky Civil Rights Act:
KRS §§ 344.010 to 344.990
The Kentucky Civil Rights Act (KCRA) prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.
The KCRA applies to employers employing at least 8 (15 for disability and pregnancy) employees that work at least 20 weeks a year. Generally, individual supervisors cannot be held personally liable in their individual capacities for violations of the KCRA. (Conner v. Patton, 133 S.W.3d 491, 493 (Ky. Ct. App. 2004).
Unlike Title VII, employees are not required to file a charge a charge of discrimination with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights before they file a lawsuit.
Ohio Civil Rights Act: R.C §§ 4112.01
Ohio law prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.
The Ohio Civil Rights Act (OCRA) covers any Ohio employer with four or more employees within the state (R.C. 4112.01(A)(2)).
Supervisors of private employers can be held individually liable for violations of the OCRA (Genaro v. Central Transp., Inc., 703 N.E.2d 782, 785 (Ohio 1999)). However, the Supreme Court of Ohio has held that this individual liability does not extend to supervisors or managers of public employers or political subdivisions (Hauser v. Dayton Police Dep’t, 17 N.E.3d 554, 556-57 (Ohio2014)).
Employees are not required to file a charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission before they file a lawsuit.
Proving Employment Discrimination:
Most of the time, there is no “smoking gun” evidence of employment discrimination. Courts in Kentucky and Ohio allow for circumstantial evidence of discrimination. Courts use the McDonnell Douglas Corp v. Green “burden-shifting analyze” to determine if an employer discriminated against an employee. The Burden Shifting Analysis looks at other employees (not in a protected class) to see if they were treated better than the discriminated against the employee.
If your employer discriminated against you because of your religion, act now.
Contact Our Employment Attorneys For A Free Consultation!
It is that simple. You need to act. At Thompson Legal, our Kentucky and Ohio employment law attorneys have experience achieving justice for those employees who have been wronged. We have experience taking on large and small companies to achieve justice for employees who were wronged. Call or text us today at 502-366-2121 for a free consultation if you have any Kentucky or Ohio employment issues.