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• Discuss whether you would be inclined to take legal action against your employer if you felt you were fired because you could not work on your Sabbath.
• Explain what the HR department could have done to mitigate risk in this case and/or what they can do to mitigate risk of this nature in the future.

I would be inclined to take legal action against the employer if the termination was based on not being able to work on Sabbath because this action of the employer would constitute as religion-based discrimination. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, employees are protected from employment discrimination done based on religion and others (gender, race, color, etc). Employers are legally prohibited to take candidate or employee’s religion-based values, beliefs, or practices into consideration for employment decisions such as hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, etc. Sabbath (holy day of rest and worship) is religious-based practice. If the employer is firing me because of my Sabbath then the employer is violating the federal law Title VII of CRA 1964. Thus, I can bring a lawsuit against him.

HR department could play an important role to mitigate the risk and take necessary steps to avoid such risks in the future. According to Title VII of CRA of 1964, Employers are required to provide accommodation to employees’ religion-based beliefs and practices. In this case, the HR department could have provided accommodation to the employee such as flexible scheduling or voluntary choice to substitute or swap work shifts. For example – the HR department could ask the employee or future candidate in the same situation to choose the work shift schedule so that he/she could take the day off on Sabbath or other religious-based practices without causing any issue or undue hardship to the employer’s business. Also, the HR department could implement rules and policies to stop discrimination of any kind at the employer’s company. For example – open communication policy, internal investigation for discrimination cases, disciplinary actions, compliance with federal laws and EEOC policies, etc.

Do you think employers in at-will states violate the law by not hiring someone who didn’t give notice because technically the rule goes in both directions.