“INTERACTIVE PROCESS” APPLIES TO RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS, TOO

All too often managers reply to employee requests for a work accommodation with a quick “No” or “HR said no.”  A large bundle of case law holds that it violates law to dismiss a disabled employee’s request for an accommodation without exploring option in a back and forth communication.  It is called the “interactive process.”  We have written about it often. When managers fail to do this, they make it very easy for employees to win claims of disability discrimination with cash payouts. Although it is a smaller of case law, precedent also holds that managers owe employees requesting accommodations for religious purposes the same quality of interaction.  The folks at the Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete law firm posted a good article explaining all this that union reps should find helpful. Click here to read it in about 3 minutes time.

This is also something you should pass on to your members, most of whom have little to no idea what the union can do for them because they do not know their rights.