I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5233

To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to religious

accommodation in employment.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 6, 1994

Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs.

MALONEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. OWENS)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Education and Labor

A BILL

To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with

respect to religious accommodation in employment.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Workplace Religious

5 Freedom Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.

7 Section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42

8 U.S.C. 2000e(j)) is amended—

9 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(j)’’,
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1 (2) by inserting ‘‘, after initiating and engaging

2 in an affirmative and bona fide effort,’’ after ‘‘un3 able’’, and

4 (3) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), an accommoda6 tion by the employer shall not be deemed to be reasonable

7 if—

8 ‘‘(A) such accommodation does not remove the

9 conflict between employment requirements and the

10 employee’s religious observance or practice; or

11 ‘‘(B)(i) the employee or prospective employee

12 demonstrates to the employer the availability of an

13 alternative accommodation less onerous to the em14 ployee that may be made by the employer without

15 undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s

16 business; and

17 ‘‘(ii) the employer refuses to make such accom18 modation.

19 ‘‘(3) It shall not be a defense to a claim of unlawful

20 employment practice for failure to provide a reasonable ac21 commodation that such accommodation would be in viola22 tion of a bona fide seniority system if, in order for the

23 employer to reasonably accommodate to such observance

24 or practice—
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1 ‘‘(A) an adjustment is made in the employee’s

2 work hours (including an adjustment that requires

3 the employee to work overtime in order to avoid

4 working at a time that abstention from work is nec5 essary to satisfy religious requirements), shift, or job

6 assignment, that would not be available to any em7 ployee but for such accommodation; or

8 ‘‘(B) the employee and any other employee vol9 untarily exchange shifts or job assignments, or vol10 untarily make some other arrangement between or

11 among them.

12 ‘‘(4) As used in this subsection, the term ‘undue

13 hardship’ means an action requiring significant difficulty

14 or expense. For purposes of determining whether an action

15 requires significant difficulty or expense—

16 ‘‘(A) the identifiable cost of the accommodation

17 in relation to the size and operating cost of the em18 ployer; and

19 ‘‘(B) the number of individuals who will need a

20 particular accommodation to a religious observance

21 or practice;

22 shall be included in the consideration of other factors.

23 ‘‘(5) An employer shall not be required to pay pre24 mium wages for work performed during hours to which

25 such premium wages would ordinarily be applicable, if
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1 work is performed during such hours only to accommodate

2 religious requirements of an employee.’’.

3 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

4 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub5 section (b), this Act and the amendments made by section

6 2 shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this

7 Act.

8 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—The amend9 ments made by section 2 shall not apply with respect to

10 conduct occurring before the date of the enactment of this

11 Act.

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