The Cardigan family has made a name for themselves in the sweater industry by de

Question

The Cardigan family has made a name for themselves in the sweater industry by designing sweaters for a variety of uses and for a wide target audience ranging from toddlers to business professionals. Cassandra, whom everyone calls Cassie, is the CEO of CARDWARE Inc., Camoni is the spokesperson for the sweater line, and Candie models the lines in the professional sphere. They often use their mother, Camille, as a business consultant for input about various new ideas and marketing because she was the manager of her son’s glove company. Cora and Caley, Camille’s two youngest daughters from her second failed marriage to Bo Jenkins, are co-office managers of their headquarters located in Silkadonia.

The Cardigans are an equal opportunity employer. Gabbie has been hired to answer phones for CARDWARE between the hours of eight and noon daily with a 1-hour lunch break followed by reception work from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. At the time of hire, Gabbie was informed of the hours and the importance of being available to answer calls promptly. Additionally, she was told that there is a high volume of calls in CARDWARE. As such, it is essential that Gabbie make sure that if she is ill or has a vacation day, she give CARDWARE reasonable notice so that a suitable substitute could help answer the telephone and take messages. One Monday morning, Gabbie announced that she was now a member of the New Freedom Ocean Peace Church. Further, that she would need to have an hour off twice a week to observe her new found religious practices of going to the beach and meditating and praying. She also indicated on the day of her announcement that she is very excited and will be observing her first religious requirement that day. Cora reminds Gabbie of the terms of Gabbie’s employment and tells her that CARDWARE will not be able to provide accommodation for Gabbie’s religious activity.

Discuss whether or not CARDWARE is obligated under the First Amendment to provide reasonable accommodation or not. Be sure to provide an engaging and substantive response indicating your understanding of her constitutional right to the free exercise of her religion. Do you agree? Why or why not?

In the response, be sure to:

Discuss the establishment clause.

Discuss how employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ religious beliefs.

Explanation / Answer

The first amendment protects the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly as well as freedom of press. There are two clauses in the first amendment including establishment clause and Free Exercise clause. According to the Establishment clause, the federal government cannot support a particular region and need to give equal preference to all the religions. Hence according to the establishment clause an employee cannot be prevented from their decision to attend or not to attend their religious activity and the employer cannot exercise any control over the same. The employer needs to provide reasonable accommodation for the employee to attend their religious belief unless it would impose an undue hardship on the business. Undue hardship means an accommodation that will cost significantly for the employer or that is difficult to provide.

In the given case, CARDWARE need to accommodate Gabbie’s religious requirement based on the establishment clause in first amendment and should not prevent from attending the religious activities. But the accommodation of request should not impose undue hardship over CARDWARE. But Gabbie’s role is critical for the company and from the time of hire she was told about the importance of being available on the work hours and informing prior for arranging the substitute. Gabbie has the constitutional right to the free exercise of her religion but need to ensure that it is discussed prior to the employer so that the accommodation do not impose undue hardship on the employer. It will be difficult for CARDWARE to accommodate her requirement to attend the first religious requirement that day as she did not inform before. Hence I agree to Cora’s decision for that day. But it will not be difficult to provide if she inform before and hence her requirement should be accommodated by the employer for other days by arranging a suitable substitute to attend the calls for an hour on those days.

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