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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3628 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3628

    To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to establish 
provisions with respect to religious accommodations in employment, and 
                          for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 26 (legislative day, September 17), 2008

   Mr. Kerry introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to establish 
provisions with respect to religious accommodations in employment, and 
                          for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000e) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (j)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the practice of wearing 
religious clothing or a religious hairstyle, or of taking time off for 
a religious reason, imposes an undue hardship on the conduct of the 
employer's business in accommodating such practice only if the 
accommodation imposes a significant difficulty or expense on the 
conduct of the employer's business when considered in light of factors 
set forth in section 101(10)(B) of the Americans with Disabilities Act 
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111(10)(B)).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(o)(1) The term `taking time off for a religious reason' means 
taking time off for a holy day or to participate in a religious 
observance.
    ``(2) The term `wearing religious clothing or a religious 
hairstyle' means--
            ``(A) wearing religious apparel (as defined in section 774 
        of title 10, United States Code);
            ``(B) wearing jewelry or other ornament as a religious 
        practice or an expression of religious belief;
            ``(C) carrying a symbolic object as required by religious 
        observance; or
            ``(D) adopting the presence, absence, or style of a 
        person's hair or beard as a religious practice or an expression 
        of religious belief.''.

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

    (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.--This Act and the amendments made by 
section 2 do not apply with respect to conduct occurring before the 
date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Severability.--
            (1) In general.--If any provision of an amendment made by 
        this Act, or any application of such provision to any person or 
        circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of 
        the amendments made by this Act and the application of the 
        provision to any other person or circumstance shall not be 
        affected.
            (2) Definition of religion.--If, in the course of 
        determining a claim brought under title VII of the Civil Rights 
        Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), a court holds that the 
        application of the provision described in paragraph (1) to a 
        person or circumstance is unconstitutional, the court shall 
        determine the claim with respect to that person or circumstance 
        by applying the definition of the term ``religion'' specified 
        in section 701 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e), as in effect on 
        the day before the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>
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