II 

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. 

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 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 701 of the Civil Rights 

8 Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (j)— 


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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(j)’’; and 

2 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the practice of 

4 wearing religious clothing or a religious hairstyle, or of 

5 taking time off for a religious reason, imposes an undue 

6 hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business in ac7 commodating such practice only if the accommodation im8 poses a significant difficulty or expense on the conduct of 

9 the employer’s business when considered in light of factors 

10 set forth in section 101(10)(B) of the Americans with Dis11 abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111(10)(B)).’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(o)(1) The term ‘taking time off for a religious rea14 son’ means taking time off for a holy day or to participate 

15 in a religious observance. 

16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘wearing religious clothing or a reli17 gious hairstyle’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) wearing religious apparel (as defined in 

19 section 774 of title 10, United States Code); 

20 ‘‘(B) wearing jewelry or other ornament as a 

21 religious practice or an expression of religious belief; 

22 ‘‘(C) carrying a symbolic object as required by 

23 religious observance; or 


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1 ‘‘(D) adopting the presence, absence, or style of 

2 a person’s hair or beard as a religious practice or an 

3 expression of religious belief.’’. 

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

5 SEVERABILITY. 

6 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub7 section (b), this Act and the amendments made by section 

8 2 take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. 

9 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—This Act and 

10 the amendments made by section 2 do not apply with re11 spect to conduct occurring before the date of enactment 

12 of this Act. 

13 (c) SEVERABILITY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—If any provision of an 

15 amendment made by this Act, or any application of 

16 such provision to any person or circumstance, is held 

17 to be unconstitutional, the remainder of the amend18 ments made by this Act and the application of the 

19 provision to any other person or circumstance shall 

20 not be affected. 

21 (2) DEFINITION OF RELIGION.—If, in the 

22 course of determining a claim brought under title 

23 VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

24 2000e et seq.), a court holds that the application of 

25 the provision described in paragraph (1) to a person 


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1 or circumstance is unconstitutional, the court shall 

2 determine the claim with respect to that person or 

3 circumstance by applying the definition of the term 

4 ‘‘religion’’ specified in section 701 of that Act (42 

5 U.S.C. 2000e), as in effect on the day before the 

6 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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