Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 1997

Summary: Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 1997 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to modify the definition of "religion" to include all aspects of religious observance, practice, and belief unless, after initiating and engaging in an affirmative and bona fide effort, an employer demonstrates that it is unable to reasonably accommodate a religious observance or practice without undue hardship (action requiring significant difficulty or expense) on the conduct of the employer's business. 
Prohibits deeming an accommodation by the employer reasonable if the accommodation does not remove the conflict between employment requirements and the religious observance or practice.  Excludes, in certain circumstances, a defense that the accommodation would be in violation of a seniority system.  Prohibits requiring payment of premium wages for work performed during hours to which premium wages would ordinarily be applicable if work is performed during those hours only to accommodate religious requirements of an employee.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
(42 U.S.C. 2000e(j)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)'';
            (2) by inserting ``, after initiating and engaging in an 
        affirmative and bona fide effort,'' after ``unable'';
            (3) by striking ``an employee's'' and all that follows 
        through ``religious'' and insert ``an employee's religious''; 
        and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) As used in this subsection, the term `employee' includes a 
prospective employee.
    ``(3) As used in this subsection, the term `undue hardship' means 
an accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense. For 
purposes of determining whether an accommodation requires significant 
difficulty or expense--
            ``(A) an accommodation shall be considered to require 
        significant difficulty or expense if the accommodation will 
        result in the inability of an employee to perform the essential 
        functions of the employment position of the employee; and
            ``(B) other factors to be considered in making the 
        determination shall include--
                    ``(i) the identifiable cost of the accommodation, 
                including the costs of loss of productivity and of 
                retraining or hiring employees or transferring 
                employees from one facility to another, in relation to 
                the size and operating cost of the employer;
                    ``(ii) the number of individuals who will need the 
                particular accommodation to a religious observance or 
                practice; and
                    ``(iii) for an employer with multiple facilities, 
                the degree to which the geographic separateness or 
                administrative or fiscal relationship of the facilities 
                will make the accommodation more difficult or 
                expensive.''.
    (b) Employment Practices.--Section 703 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
2000e-2) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(o)(1) As used in this subsection:
            ``(A) The term `employee' includes a prospective employee.
            ``(B) The term `leave of general usage' means leave 
        provided under the policy or program of an employer, under 
        which--
                    ``(i) an employee may take leave by adjusting or 
                altering the work schedule or assignment of the 
                employee according to criteria determined by the 
                employer; and
                    ``(ii) the employee may determine the purpose for 
                which the leave is to be utilized.
            ``(C) The term `undue hardship' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 701(j)(3).
    ``(2) For purposes of determining whether an employer has committed 
an unlawful employment practice under this title by failing to provide 
a reasonable accommodation to the religious observance or practice of 
an employee, an accommodation by the employer shall not be deemed to be 
reasonable if such accommodation does not remove the conflict between 
employment requirements and the religious observance or practice of the 
employee.
    ``(3) An employer shall be considered to commit such a practice by 
failing to provide such a reasonable accommodation for an employee if 
the employer refuses to permit the employee to utilize leave of general 
usage to remove such a conflict solely because the leave will be used 
to accommodate the religious observance or practice of the employee.
    ``(4) It shall not be a defense to a claim of unlawful employment 
practice under this title for failure to provide a reasonable 
accommodation to a religious observance or practice of an employee that 
such accommodation would be in violation of a bona fide seniority 
system if, in order for the employer to reasonably accommodate such 
observance or practice--
            ``(A) an adjustment would be made in the employee's work 
        hours (including an adjustment that requires the employee to 
        work overtime in order to avoid working at a time that 
        abstention from work is necessary to satisfy religious 
        requirements), shift, or job assignment, that would not be 
        available to any employee but for such accommodation; or
            ``(B) the employee and any other employee would voluntarily 
        exchange shifts or job assignments, or voluntarily make some 
        other arrangement between the employees.
    ``(5)(A) An employer shall not be required to pay premium wages or 
confer premium benefits for work performed during hours to which such 
premium wages or premium benefits would ordinarily be applicable, if 
work is performed during such hours only to accommodate religious 
requirements of an employee.
    ``(B) As used in this paragraph--
            ``(i) the term `premium benefit' means an employment 
        benefit, such as seniority, group life insurance, health 
        insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, annual leave, an 
        educational benefit, or a pension, that is greater than the 
        employment benefit due the employee for an equivalent period of 
        work performed during the regular work schedule of the 
        employee; and
            ``(ii) the term `premium wages' includes overtime pay and 
        compensatory time off, premium pay for night, weekend, or 
        holiday work, and premium pay for standby or irregular duty.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
and the amendments made by section 2 take effect on the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Application of Amendments.--The amendments made by section 2 do 
not apply with respect to conduct occurring before the date of 
enactment of this Act.