SALDEF welcomes new compliance guidelines Washington D.C. – July 25, 2008: The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) commends the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for releasing new guidelines regarding religious discrimination in the workplace. The new guidelines are intended to assist employers, employees, attorneys, EEOC staff, and anyone else in determining what being compliant with Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination means. The EEOC is the primary federal agency charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws in the workplace, from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An EEOC statement released earlier today stated the guidelines were released in response to an increase in the number of religious discrimination claims received by the agency. In fact, the number of religious discrimination claims filed with the EEOC more than doubled between 1992 and 2007. SALDEF has consistently engaged with the EEOC in order to promote the adoption of policies that take into consideration the concerns of the Sikh American community. On June 16, 2008 SALDEF met with EEO Commission members, Stuart Ishamaru and Christine Griffin, to discuss workplace religious discrimination and accommodation issues preceding the release of the new guidelines. SALDEF lauds the EEOC’s efforts in preparing the new guidelines, but recognizes that more work needs to be done to secure the rights of Sikhs and all Americans to practice their faith unhindered in the workplace.
