Civil Rights

A Leap of Faith

Keith Martin

University of Alabama

Business Law

Prior to discussing the hypothetical situation given in this assignment, let’s review the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its applications. Life was officially given to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964 when then President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act and brought it into law keeping former President John F. Kennedy’s dream of a truly free country alive.

Essentially, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided legislation that prohibited discrimination against individuals based on their race, nationality, sex or religious practices. This resulted in desegregation of schools and various other facilities and businesses used by the public such as restaurants, bars and movie theaters, the promotion of equality in voter registration requirements and prevention of discrimination against employees based on race, color, sex and their religious beliefs or practices. (Civil Rights Act of 1964 § 7, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq (1964).

Under Title VII, employers cannot discriminate against an employee because they are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, or whether they are Catholic, Baptist or Jewish. I think you get the picture. Regarding the applications of Title VII where religion is concerned, an employer is obligated to protect its employees from unfair treatment or harassment caused by another’s disapproval of the employee’s religious beliefs within the work place. Further, an employer cannot force an employee to participate in any activity that conflicts with their religion or restrict an employee from any activity that coincides with their religious faith such as praying. (Staver, M., (2000). Religious Rights in the Workplace).

An employer has a standing obligation to exhaust all reasonable efforts to oblige the religious beliefs and practices of its employees. (Civil Rights: Accommodation of an Employee’s...