for LGBTQ rights this week by recognizing that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans from workplace discrimination. But it remains to be seen just how effectively this ruling will shield queer workers who may actually need that protection the most ― those who are employed by conservative religious business owners.
“We expect an increasing number of cases in which employers, both nonprofit and for-profit, assert a right to the religious exemption under Title VII to avoid having to comply with the new decision,” Americans United noted in an analysis of Monday’s decision provided to HuffPost.Joseph Fons, holding a Pride flag, walks in front of the U.S.
The law at the center of many of these religious freedom defenses ― the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ― states that if the government is substantially burdening someone’s “sincerely held religious beliefs,” it has to prove that it’s using the least restrictive path to achieving a compelling interest.
“Exempting business from antidiscrimination law for religious reasons would be a sea change in how we’ve balanced religious objections in commercial settings,” Sepper told HuffPost. “Broad religious exemptions would give bosses more power over workers and make racial, gender, and sex disparities at work even deeper.”
As of Monday, LGBTQ Americans are also a protected class and should theoretically be shielded as well, Americans United suggested. But the courts will have to decide whether a conservative Christian nonprofit can claim, for example, that a transgender Christian worker doesn’t truly share the nonprofit’s religion and that, as a result, it’s legal to discriminate against them.
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