Major Hospital Bans Employee From Having Bible Study During Break Time – ACLJ Prepares for Lawsuit If They Don't Back Down

A hospital has banned an employee from holding a Bible study during her break time – a clear violation of her religious liberty rights under federal law. The ACLJ will be taking legal action if the hospital does not comply with the law this week.

Federal law makes it clear that employees do not forfeit their religious freedoms when they enter the workplace. ACLJ attorneys continue to defend employees who have fallen victim to religious discrimination in the workplace. This time, the ACLJ has stepped in to defend a hospital employee in Kansas, who has been prohibited from having a Bible study anywhere on the hospital’s campus during or outside of business hours.

This situation began when our client, during a daily meeting, expressed her interest in having a Bible study with co-workers on their own time during their lunch break. Our client’s boss, who was not even in the meeting and was out of the office on PTO, texted our client during the meeting and asked for a phone call. During this call, our client was informed she had offended others in the meeting by bringing up the Bible study. Notably, her boss also notified our client that Bible studies on the hospital’s premises were prohibited and that she would get back to our client with specifics.

Having not received any answers, our client then notified Human Resources (“HR”) to get answers herself. Following email correspondence with HR, our client was under the impression she could have the Bible study on her own time outside of business hours. A few days later, however, the issue had gone up to corporate legal, and it came back stating that Bible studies between co-workers are prohibited anywhere on campus at any time. Meanwhile, other employees were free to carry on private conversations unrelated to business activities in the hospital’s cafeteria and various break rooms around the hospital’s campus.

As soon as the ACLJ found out about this egregious misconduct, we fired off a demand letter explaining that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects against the very censorship that has occurred here.

As we explained in our demand letter, Title VII clearly establishes that it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against employees regarding their terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on the employee’s religion. The broad jurisdiction of Title VII ensures that most employers, public or private, are covered by Title VII.

The U.S. Supreme Court defines discrimination as treating someone differently from similarly situated individuals. Importantly, the language of Title VII does not demand neutrality to religion; rather, it gives favored treatment to religious practices in the workplace. We also noted in our demand letter that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in its Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination, explicitly states: “Employers should allow religious expression among employees at least to the same extent that they allow other types of personal expression.” And as most recently discussed in Groff v. Dejoy, these principles apply regardless of whether the employer or, in this case, a co-worker dislikes religious expression in the workplace.

However, in the case of our client, the discrimination is obvious. She was prohibited from expressing her religious beliefs with co-workers during lunchtime anywhere on campus, while other employees were free to carry on private conversations with co-workers during lunchtime in the hospital’s cafeteria and break rooms. Thus, rather than permitting religious expression, the hospital censored our client’s religious expression in violation of federal law.

If the hospital does not immediately cease discriminating against our client’s Christian faith, we will take further legal action.

The ACLJ stands ready to defend the religious freedoms of employees across the country. If you have experienced religious discrimination in the workplace, please contact us at ACLJ.org/help.