[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3057-S3058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Ensign, Mr. 
        Lieberman, Mr. Brownback, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Smith, Mr. Schumer, 
        Mr. Talent, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Coburn, and Mr. Hatch):
  S. 677. A bill to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to 
establish provisions with respect to religious accommodation in 
employment, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Workplace 
Religious Freedom Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by 
Senator Kerry and appreciate the work he has done on this bill over the 
years. I am also pleased to have a number of Senators, both Democrats 
and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, join me in cosponsoring 
this important legislation.
  The bill we introduce today is intended to ensure that employees are 
not forced to choose between their religious beliefs and practices and 
keeping their jobs. It recognizes that an individual's faith impacts 
every part of their life, including the many hours spent in the 
workplace. America is distinguished internationally as a land of 
religious freedom, and it should be a place where people are not forced 
to choose between keeping their faith and keeping their job. This 
simple proposition is why we are re-introducing the Workplace Religious 
Freedom Act (WRFA), which provides a balanced approach to reconciling 
the needs of people of faith in the workplace with those of employers.
  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was meant to address 
conflicts between religion and work. It requires employers to 
reasonably accommodate the religious needs of their employees so long 
as it does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. The problem is 
that our federal courts have essentially ruled that any hardship is an 
undue hardship and have thus left religiously observant workers with 
little or no legal protection. WRFA will re-establish the principle 
that employers must reasonably accommodate the religious needs of 
employees. This legislation is carefully crafted and strikes an 
appropriate balance, respecting religious accommodation while ensuring 
that an undue burden is not forced upon employers. WRFA is also careful 
to ensure that the accommodation of an individual employee's religious 
conscience will not adversely affect the delivery of products or 
services to an employer's customers or clients.
  The balance that this legislation seeks to establish is evident in 
the broad spectrum of groups supporting this bill, including the Union 
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Southern Baptist Convention, the 
National Council of Churches, the North American Council for Muslim 
Women, the Sikh Resource Taskforce, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 
the American Jewish Committee, Agudath Israel of America, the U.S. 
Conference of Catholic Bishops and many others.
  America is a great nation because we honor not only the freedom of 
conscience, but also the freedom to exercise one's religion according 
to the dictates of that religious conscience. This fundamental freedom 
is protected and strengthened in this legislation by re-establishing an 
appropriate balance between the demands of work and the principles of 
faith.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of this 
legislation be printed in the Record after my statement.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 677

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Religious Freedom 
     Act of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Definitions.--Section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 
     1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e(j)) is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)'';
       (2) by inserting ``, after initiating and engaging in an 
     affirmative and bona fide effort,'' after ``unable'';
       (3) by striking ``an employee's'' and all that follows 
     through ``religious'' and inserting ``an employee's 
     religious''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2)(A) In this subsection, the term `employee' includes 
     an employee (as defined in subsection (f)), or a prospective 
     employee, who, with or without reasonable accommodation, is 
     qualified to perform the essential functions of the 
     employment position that such individual holds or desires.
       ``(B) In this paragraph, the term `perform the essential 
     functions' includes carrying out the core requirements of an 
     employment position and does not include carrying out 
     practices relating to clothing, practices relating to taking 
     time off, or other practices that may have a temporary or 
     tangential impact on the ability to perform job functions, if 
     any of the practices described in this subparagraph restrict 
     the ability to wear religious clothing, to take time off for 
     a holy day, or to participate in a religious observance or 
     practice.
       ``(3) In this subsection, the term `undue hardship' means 
     an accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense. 
     For purposes of determining whether an accommodation requires 
     significant difficulty or expense, factors to be considered 
     in making the determination shall include--

[[Page S3058]]

       ``(A) the identifiable cost of the accommodation, including 
     the costs of loss of productivity and of retraining or hiring 
     employees or transferring employees from 1 facility to 
     another;
       ``(B) the overall financial resources and size of the 
     employer involved, relative to the number of its employees; 
     and
       ``(C) for an employer with multiple facilities, the 
     geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal 
     relationship of the facilities.''.
       (b) Employment Practices.--Section 703 of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 2000e-2) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(o)(1) In this subsection:
       ``(A) The term `employee' has the meaning given the term in 
     section 701(j)(2).
       ``(B) The term `leave of general usage' means leave 
     provided under the policy or program of an employer, under 
     which--
       ``(i) an employee may take leave by adjusting or altering 
     the work schedule or assignment of the employee according to 
     criteria determined by the employer; and
       ``(ii) the employee may determine the purpose for which the 
     leave is to be utilized.
       ``(2) For purposes of determining whether an employer has 
     committed an unlawful employment practice under this title by 
     failing to provide a reasonable accommodation to the 
     religious observance or practice of an employee, for an 
     accommodation to be considered to be reasonable, the 
     accommodation shall remove the conflict between employment 
     requirements and the religious observance or practice of the 
     employee.
       ``(3) An employer shall be considered to commit such a 
     practice by failing to provide such a reasonable 
     accommodation for an employee if the employer refuses to 
     permit the employee to utilize leave of general usage to 
     remove such a conflict solely because the leave will be used 
     to accommodate the religious observance or practice of the 
     employee.''.

     SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), 
     this Act and the amendments made by section 2 take effect on 
     the date of enactment of this Act.
       (b) Application of Amendments.--The amendments made by 
     section 2 do not apply with respect to conduct occurring 
     before the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 ______