Employer's Passover rules at work are legal

DEAR CARRIE:I work for a company in New York City with 20 employees. The owner is Orthodox Jewish, and during the week of Passover we cannot use the microwave, coffee maker, refrigerator, cups or plates. Are such restrictions legal? - Religious Infringement?

DEAR RELIGIOUS: Because the restrictions themselves aren't religious, they are legal, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces Title VII anti-discrimination statutes in the workplace.

"As far as I can tell from the example, the restrictions do not appear to violate Title VII," which bars religious discrimination and other biases, said Elizabeth Grossman, regional attorney in the agency's New York district office.

"The employer is not requiring the employees who do not observe Passover to engage in a religious activity; rather, it appears to be asking them to refrain from a particular secular activity for a short period of time, presumably in order to accommodate the religious practices of the owner and other employees," Grossman said.

"This action by the employer," she says, "is very different from situations where, for example, the employer requires prayer or other religious observance as part of the employees' duties, or disciplines or terminates employees for engaging in certain secular activities outside of the workplace, such as sex outside of marriage," Grossman said. "An employee cannot be forced to participate - or not participate - in a religious activity as a condition of employment."

That informal accommodation contrasts with mandated religious accommodations when employees want to practice their faith without fear of losing their jobs. Title VII requires employers to do such things as provide flexible scheduling or permit employees to wear religious garb.

"The law requires an employer to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices, unless doing so would create a burden for the employer's business," Grossman said. "As such, an employer may be required to make reasonable adjustments to the work environment that will allow an employee to practice his or her religion."

DEAR CARRIE: Is there anything that can be done about co-workers wearing heavily scented perfumes or colognes? Some of us in our office are suffering from these odors because we have medical conditions such as asthma and migraines. Human resources says it can't do anything unless someone has offensive body odor. But I feel perfumes and colognes can be just as offensive, especially if they are exacerbating health issues.- Scent of Disgust

DEAR SCENT: I agree. Overly spritzed colleagues, just like those with body odor, can create a distracting, unbearable work environment. You could have a legal basis for a complaint if the overwhelming scents pose a health problem for employees.

"If the woman whose co-worker wears too much perfume is allergic, she may have some legal rights under disability laws," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton and the author of "Can They Do That? Retaking our fundamental rights in the workplace" (Portfolio, 2009, $25.95). "If it's just annoying, there's nothing she can do legally." Even if the latter is true, that doesn't mean you should give up, especially if other colleagues consider the perfume a problem.

"Your employer has every right to tell her to stop using so much," Maltby said. "If enough employees were to complain, a smart employer would do something about it."

For more information about what constitutes religious discrimination in the workplace, go to http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/religion.cfm. For more on disability discrimination go to http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm