FindLaw | Find a Lawyer. Find Answers.

In California, a homosexual employee is taking his former employer to trial for religious discrimination based on comments by his Mormon supervisor. The supervisor allegedly told the gay employee he should "become heterosexual and a Mormon or he would go to hell." The plaintiff also claims he was pressured to participate in prayer meetings at work. After he resigned, the gay employee sued claiming religious harassment and constructive discharge. The judge ruled there was enough evidence for a jury to decide whether the gay employee was a victim of unlawful religious harassment and discrimination.

In Mississippi, an EAP counselor refused on religious grounds to counsel a lesbian employee on her personal relationship with her partner. The counselor argued she had a right, under Title VII, to be excused from counseling employees on subjects that conflicted with her religious beliefs. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, explaining that to require the employer to accommodate the counselor's religious beliefs in this way would impose an undue hardship and excessively burden other counselors.

The EEOC ruled last year that an employee may have a valid claim of religious discrimination against his employer, the U.S. Patent Office, after he was fired for his "obsessive" belief in cold fusion. The EEOC reasoned that where an employee has a serious belief that he considers "religious," he may not be discriminated against on that basis.

An employee recently sued his employer after being fired for working in the nude on Thanksgiving Day. Although he thought he was alone at work because of the holiday, a security guard turned him in for "violating the company's dress code." The employee sued claiming the company unlawfully refused to accommodate his religion, "Shamanism."