The Anti Defamation League has some good resources about Religious Freedom, including an explanation of Religious Accomodation in the Workplace. Here’s an excerpt of a key question that comes up a lot here:

What does federal law require of an employer? Federal law requires an employer to “reasonably accommodate” an employee’s religious observances, practices and beliefs. However, an employer need not “reasonably accommodate” if the employer can show that accommodation would cause an “undue hardship” on business.

This is, of course, vague, and the sort of thing that people hire lawyers to help interpret. What is a reasonable accomodation? What is undue hardship? How does this actually play out in the workplace?

Barrie Gross explores some of these scenarios in Accomodating Religious Beliefs and Practices in the Workplace. For example, if a worker required a place to pray during the workday, a room could be set aside, but would need to be available to all religious groups at different times. If a female worker required that she not be left alone with males (because of religious beliefs), accomodations could be made with an open-door policy, which might be acceptable.

But it’s not always easy. Mark Swartz on Workopolis in Canada has some personal experience with issues that were not so well-resolved in his opinion. He describes a wall at a former workplace decorated with messages of faith. He found it divisive and damaging to the morale. And because the vice president supported the messages, the messages of faith stayed.