Civil rights and religious leaders met with United States Senator Edward Kennedy August 2 to urge his support for the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). Senator Kennedy is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee through which WRFA must pass if it is to become law.

“Senator Kennedy has provided key support for legislation protecting religious freedom in the past and at the meeting he expressed a desire to continue to work with us on the issue of religious freedom in the workplace,” says James Standish, director of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“The problems that some religious people are experiencing in the workplace are well understood by the Senator and his staff,” adds Standish, “and we expect their assistance will be crucial to the passage of this legislation.”

Although current civil rights laws in the United States require employers to accommodate the religious practices of employees, this requirement has been interpreted narrowly by the Supreme Court. As a result, employees often have no recourse when employers refuse to make relatively minor adjustments in order for employees to practice their faith. WRFA is designed to rectify this problem by increasing on-the-job legal protection for people of faith. 

“It is sometimes suggested that when employers refuse to accommodate the religious practices of their employees, the employees should simply find a new employer,” says Standish. “But this is not always possible. It is often low paid workers who find their employers unwilling to accommodate their religious beliefs. These workers often have skills suited only to industries in which virtually all employers maintain similar practices; thus changing employers provides no relief.”

Standish explains that finding a new employer can be exceedingly difficult, particularly in times of recession. “It’s therefore necessary to ensure that employers take reasonable steps to protect their employees’ freedom to practice their faith,” he says. 

Also representing the Adventist Church at the meeting with Senator Kennedy were Vikki Montgomery, associate editor of Liberty Magazine, and Robert Patterson, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Columbia Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.