Oregon Statutes 659A.033 – Violation of ORS 659A.030 by denying religious leave or prohibiting certain religious observances or practices; determination of reasonable accommodation
(1) An employer violates ORS § 659A.030 if:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 659A.033
- Employer: means any person who in this state, directly or through an agent, engages or uses the personal service of one or more employees, reserving the right to control the means by which such service is or will be performed. See Oregon Statutes 659A.001
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
(a) The employer does not allow an employee to use vacation leave, or other leave available to the employee, for the purpose of allowing the employee to engage in the religious observance or practices of the employee; and
(b) Reasonably accommodating use of the leave by the employee will not impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the employer as described in subsections (4) and (5) of this section.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section applies only to leave that is not restricted as to the manner in which the leave may be used and that the employer allows the employee to take by adjusting or altering the work schedule or assignment of the employee.
(3) An employer violates ORS § 659A.030 if:
(a) The employer imposes an occupational requirement that restricts the ability of an employee to wear religious clothing in accordance with the employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs, to take time off for a holy day or to take time off to participate in a religious observance or practice;
(b) Reasonably accommodating those activities does not impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the employer as described in subsections (4) and (5) of this section; and
(c) The activities have only a temporary or tangential impact on the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the employee’s job.
(4) A reasonable accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the employer for the purposes of this section if the accommodation requires significant difficulty or expense. For the purpose of determining whether an accommodation requires significant difficulty or expense, the following factors shall be considered:
(a) The nature and the cost of the accommodation needed.
(b) The overall financial resources of the facility or facilities involved in the provision of the accommodation, the number of persons employed at the facility and the effect on expenses and resources or other impacts on the operation of the facility caused by the accommodation.
(c) The overall financial resources of the employer, the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of persons employed by the employer and the number, type and location of the employer’s facilities.
(d) The type of business operations conducted by the employer, including the composition, structure and functions of the workforce of the employer and the geographic separateness and administrative or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities of the employer.
(e) The safety and health requirements in a facility, including requirements for the safety of other employees and any other person whose safety may be adversely impacted by the requested accommodation.
(f) The degree to which an accommodation may constrain the obligation of a school district, education service district or public charter school to maintain a religiously neutral work environment.
(5) A reasonable accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the employer for the purposes of this section if the accommodation would constrain the legal obligation of a school district, education service district or public charter school to:
(a) Maintain religious neutrality in the school environment; or
(b) Refrain from endorsing religion. [2009 c.744 § 2; 2010 c.105 § 1]