Religion at work: Evaluating hostile work environment religious discrimination claims.

Abstract

Studies rarely address religious discrimination in the workplace, though claims have more than doubled in the last 20 years. The present studies investigated whether social psychology can help predict perceptions of hostile work environments (HWEs) faced by workers on the basis of their religion. That is, the present research examined whether and how self-referencing, similarity, and social identity affect how people perceive complainants and harassers in religious HWE cases and if those perceptions affect legal decisions such as whether discrimination occurred. In Study 1, evaluators read case summaries of Jewish or Muslim workers facing workplace religious discrimination. In Study 2, evaluators read case summaries focused on the alleged harasser, who was either Mormon or Evangelical Christian. The present studies found that self-referenced, subjective assessment as to whether religious discrimination occurred predicted objective legal judgments made after reading jury instructions. In addition, the subjective–objective legal judgment relationship was generally stronger when the evaluator and the complainant were perceived as more similar or shared an in-group status. Overall, these studies demonstrated that the experimental paradigm used to explain self-referencing and perceptions of sexual harassment can be applied to religious discrimination claims, and also expanded that paradigm by investigating the roles of perceived similarity and social identity. Each played an important role in the legal decision making process and Evangelical Christian evaluators were especially shown to protect an Evangelical Christian supervisor accused of harassing a secular employee. Implications for handling and reducing the number of religious discrimination incidents in the workplace are discussed.

Religious identity in the workplace: A systematic review, research agenda, and practical implications

“…Nonetheless, the intersection of religion and the workplace is not widely studied in either HR or organizational research (Lynn, Naughton, & Vander Veen, 2010). For this reason, there are calls for more investigation of the relationship of religion with discrimination in the workplace (Cantone & Wiener, 2017), work-related stress (Brotheridge & Lee, 2007), diversity practices (Gebert et al, 2014;Stone & Stone-Romero, 2002), and attitudes toward work (Stone-Romero & Stone, 1998).…”

Harmony of the Seas?: Work, faith, and religious difference among multinational migrant workers on board cargo ships

“…In the USA, complaints filed on the grounds of religious discrimination have more than doubled in the 20 years to 2017 (Cantone and Wiener 2017). This suggests that the public expression of religious identity at work can sometimes create discord, harassment and discrimination.…”

Bad apples, behaving badly? Workplace religious discrimination disputes and resolution behaviors

“…In the last 20 years, religious expressions in the workplace have gained increasing prominence (Cash and Gray 2000, Ashforth and Vaidyanath 2002, Cantone 2012. As workplace diversity trends upward, employees who bring religious expressions or practices to the workplace will be characterized by an increasing diversity of beliefs (Gregory 2011, Kelly et al 2011, including beliefs defined outside of well-established traditions (The Pew Forum on Religion &Public Life 2009a, Gelb andLongacre 2012).…”