For Immediate Release Contact: Rebecca Nieto
Tuesday, September 4, 2012(916) 319-2008
Yamada’s Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012
On Governor’s Desk
AB 1964 would strengthen workplace religious freedoms.
SACRAMENTO, CA –Today, Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) announced that AB 1964, the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA) of 2012 is on the Governor’s desk. The final vote on the measure was on August 29when the Assembly concurred in Senate Amendments with strong bipartisan support, 74-4.
AB 1964, a number chosen to mark its relationship to the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, makes three changes to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). First, the bill removes the confusion between federal and state definitions of “undue hardship”, clarifying that California has a higher “significant difficulty or expense” hurdle for religious accommodation instead of the “de minimus”standard. Second, the bill specifies that religious dress and grooming qualify as a religious belief or observance. Finally, AB 1964prohibits an employer from segregating an employee from customers and the public to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs.
“This bill guarantees equal employment opportunity for California’s workforce, irrespective of religious dress,” Yamada said. “This to me is like the Rosa Parks issue of the 21st Century,” Yamada added. “An employee should not have to work in the back of the store in order to observehis or her faith.”
“My experience with these situations in the U.S. military is that we’ve been able to allow these accommodations, and if we could allow religious expressions in a war zone, we can certainly do it here in California,” stated Assemblymember Jeff Gorell (R-Westlake), a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who supported AB 1964 in both the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee and on the Assembly Floor.
Changing national and state demographics has resulted in increased numbers of religious discrimination cases in the United States. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, religious discrimination cases increased 9.5 percent in 2011, contributing to the nearly 100,000 charges of employer discrimination nationwide. In California, employers faced over 500 such cases. In particular, the Sikh American and Muslim American communities report high levels of employment discrimination, particularly in the post 9-11 environment.
A range of religious and civil rights organizations support AB 1964, including the Sikh Coalition, ACLU, Anti-Defamation League, Agudath Israel of California, American Jewish Committee, California Employment Lawyers Association, California Immigrant Policy Center; California Nurses Association, Church State Council, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the North American Religious Liberty Association, the Hindu American Foundation, and the Japanese American Citizens League.
The Governor has until Sunday, September 30, 2012 to act on the bill.
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