(11) inhibiting an employee from urging a col-
league to participate or not to participate in reli-
gious activities to the same extent that, consistent 
with concerns of workplace efficiency, they may urge 
their colleagues to engage in or refrain from other 
personal endeavors, except that the employee must 
refrain from such expression when a fellow employee 
asks that it stop or otherwise demonstrates that it 
is unwelcome; 
(12) failing to prohibit expression that is part 
of a larger pattern of verbal attacks on fellow em-
ployees (or a specific employee) not sharing the faith 
of the speaker; 
(13) preventing an employee from—
(A) wearing personal religious jewelry ab-
sent special circumstances (such as safety con-
cerns) that might require a ban on all similar 
nonreligious jewelry; or 
(B) displaying religious art and literature 
in their personal work areas to the same extent 
that they may display other art and literature, 
so long as the viewing public would reasonably 
understand the religious expression to be that 
of the employee acting in her personal capacity, 
and not that of the government itself;
(14) prohibiting an employee from using their 
private time to discuss religion with willing cowork-
ers in public spaces to the same extent as they may 
discuss other subjects, so long as the public would 
reasonably understand the religious expression to be 
that of the employees acting in their personal capac-
ities; 
(15) discriminating against an employee on the 
basis of their religion, religious beliefs, or views con-
cerning their religion by promoting, refusing to pro-
mote, hiring, refusing to hire, or otherwise favoring 
or disfavoring, an employee or potential employee 
because of his or her religion, religious beliefs, or 
views concerning religion, or by explicitly or implic-
itly, insisting that the employee participate in reli-
gious activities as a condition of continued employ-
ment, promotion, salary increases, preferred job as-
signments, or any other incidents of employment or 
insisting that an employee refrain from participating 
in religious activities outside the workplace except 
pursuant to otherwise legal, neutral restrictions that 
apply to employees’ off-duty conduct and expression 
in general (such as restrictions on political activities 
prohibited by the Hatch Act);
(16) prohibiting a supervisor’s religious expres-
sion where it is not coercive and is understood to be 
his or her personal view, in the same way and to the 
same extent as other constitutionally valued speech; 
(17) permitting a hostile environment, or reli-
gious harassment, in the form of religiously discrimi-
natory intimidation, or pervasive or severe religious 
ridicule or insult, whether by supervisors or fellow 
workers, as determined by its frequency or repet-
itiveness, and severity; 
(18) failing to accommodate an employee’s exer-
cise of their religion unless such accommodation 
would impose an undue hardship on the conduct of 
the agency’s operations, based on real rather than 
speculative 
or 
hypothetical 
cost 
and 
without 
disfavoring other, nonreligious accommodations; and 
(19) in those cases where an agency’s work rule 
imposes a substantial burden on a particular em-
ployee’s exercise of religion, failing to grant the em-
ployee an exemption from that rule, absent a com-
pelling interest in denying the exemption and where 
there is no less restrictive means of furthering that 
interest. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to create any new right, benefit,
or trust responsibility, substantive or procedural, enforce-
able at law or equity by a party against the United States, 
its agencies, its officers, or any person. 
SEC. 14. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall take effect 30 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, except as provided in the 
amendment made by section 12(a)(2). 
Passed the House of Representatives March 14, 
2007. 
Attest:
Clerk.
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 985
AN ACT 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to clarify 
which disclosures of information are protected 
from prohibited personnel practices; to require a 
statement in nondisclosure policies, forms, and 
agreements to the effect that such policies, 
forms, and agreements are consistent with cer-
tain disclosure protections, and for other pur-
poses.