EEOC Releases Updated Guidance on Religious Discrimination

On July 22, 2008, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) adopted a new compliance manual section on religious discrimination in response to the fact that religious discrimination claims have increased by 100% between 1992 to 2007. The comprehensive 94-page document, which took the EEOC six years to draft, replaces Section 628 of the agency’s compliance manual, titled Religious Accommodation, along with several appendices. According to a spokesperson for the agency, the newly released document does not change existing EEOC policies or regulations pertaining to religious discrimination but is intended to update and consolidate the EEOC’s statement of position regarding religious discrimination and accommodation issues, which had previously been scattered among a handful of different agency policies.