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October 8, 1999/28 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.6
Workplace religious-rights legislation returns to Congress
DANIEL KURTZMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - For 10 years, Jewish lobbyists have been urging Congress to enact legislation that would protect religious practice in the workplace. But the measure has failed to advance or win significant backing from lawmakers, largely due to opposition from business and labor communities.
Those interest groups have argued that altering current law to make special accommodations would exact a high cost on employers and upset labor practices by granting certain employees unique privileges. Now, the bill, reintroduced in the Senate last week, could receive a boost as another religious freedom bill founders in Congress. But it still has a long way to go.
Problems for religious people have become all too common in the American workplace, according to advocates of legislation that seeks to clarify the federal law governing the religious rights of workers. Far too often, advocates say, observant Jews have been forced to work on Shabbat or the High Holidays. Muslim women have been asked to remove their head scarves while on the job. And devout Christians have been compelled to work on a Sunday.
The Workplace Religious Freedom Act seeks to remedy that. The bill, which has the support of an array of religious groups and every leading Jewish organization, would give employers far less latitude in deciding whether to accommodate a worker's religious needs.
"These are liberties upon which our country was founded and this legislation writes into law the intent of our founders that religious freedoms are protected," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). A bipartisan group of lawmakers have joined Kerry and the bill's other lead sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback(R-Kan.), in backing the legislation, including Sens. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).
Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs, said, "It is quintessentially American that people should be able to expect that their religious needs will be reasonably accommodated, and they won't be forced to choose between their religion and their job."
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