Federal employees get more leeway to express religion at work
Federal employees may start seeing and hearing more about religion in the workplace, following new guidance from the Trump administration.
All federal employees must be allowed to express their religion at work, the Office of Personnel Management told agencies in a memo Monday — as long as it doesn’t interfere with business operations.
Park rangers, for instance, can join a group in prayer when leading a national park tour. And doctors working at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital can pray over patients for their recovery, OPM explained. Security guards are also allowed to display religious items at the front desk of a federal office building.
And as long as it doesn’t rise to the level of harassment, OPM said federal employees are also allowed to try to persuade their coworkers of the “correctness of their own religious views.”
“During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs,” OPM said. “However, if the non-adherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.”
OPM Director Scott Kupor said in the memo that agencies should “robustly protect and enforce” federal employees’ religious expressions in the workplace “to the greatest extent possible.”
“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” Kupor said. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.”
OPM clarified that agencies cannot punish federal employees for expressing their religious beliefs at the office — for instance, by having religious items displayed on their desks, wearing clothing or jewelry with religious symbols, or discussing religion with coworkers. Federal employees can also display upcoming religious events on communal bulletin boards in the workplace.
Federal supervisors and non-supervisors should also be treated the same when it comes to the ability to freely express their religion, according to OPM’s new guidance. If an employee is unwilling to engage in religious conversations with a supervisor, however, OPM said that the employee cannot be disciplined for it.
Jim Eisenmann, a federal employment attorney and partner at Alden Law Group, said affording more flexibility to federal supervisors in their religious expressions may still lead to some blurred lines in the workplace.
“Supervisors are in a special position in the federal workforce. They hold power and control over employees, employee assignments and employee performance appraisals,” Eisenmann said. “In the past, supervisors had to be very discerning and careful about having any discussions about religion or having religious displays in their offices. They were discouraged from doing that because people could perceive it a certain way, and it could lead to complaints of religious discrimination.”
Under the new guidance, agencies also have to let federal employees privately engage in religious expressions in the workplace. But agencies can still limit the amount of time and determine the places that federal employees are allowed to do so, OPM said.
Federal employees are allowed to engage in religious expressions in groups as well — as long as those expressions don’t happen during “on-duty time,” OPM said. For instance, OPM explained that if an employee asks a supervisor to shut down a coworkers’ gathering for prayer in an empty conference room, the supervisor should “politely” say that the coworkers’ gathering is allowed, and that it can continue.
The guidance for “on-duty time,” however, may also lead to some confusion about when employees are or aren’t technically working, and when they are allowed to express their religion, Eisenmann said.
“The vast majority of federal employees are not punching a clock, so it’s not going to be clear,” Eisenmann said. “If I knock on my boss’ office door and ask to chat, and they’re just reading the Bible, do I know they’re on a break? To me, the distinction can be lost.”
OPM’s guidance comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February, calling for the eradication of “anti-Christian bias.” Trump’s order established a new task force responsible, in part, for reviewing agencies’ activities to identify and eliminate any “anti-Christian policies, practices or conduct,” the White House said in a Feb. 6 fact sheet.
The VA, for one, launched a task force in April to investigate instances of “anti-Christian bias” — in particular, seeking cases where employees believed they were denied promotions for religious reasons, or faced retaliation for seeking a religious exemption to vaccine mandates.
The new guidance aligns with the unanimous June 2023 Supreme Court decision in Groff v. DeJoy, which determined that all employers, including federal agencies, must grant religious accommodations to employees, unless doing so would create an “undue hardship” to business operations. The court’s decision made it harder for employers in and out of government to deny religious accommodations in the workplace.
OPM additionally referenced protections of religious freedom for individuals, including federal employees, afforded under Title VII and the Constitution.
The new guidance is OPM’s second action this month, calling for more flexibility for federal employees “of faith.” On July 16, OPM also encouraged agencies to grant telework exemptions to federal employees for religious purposes — carving out some limited exceptions to Trump’s broad return-to-office orders across the executive branch. The Trump administration said federal employees can request exemptions to telework, for instance, when observing religious holidays, attending services or fasting.
“The federal workforce should be a welcoming place for federal employees who practice a religious faith,” Kupor said. “Allowing religious discrimination in the federal workplace violates the law. It also threatens to adversely impact recruitment and retention of highly-qualified employees of faith.”The post Federal employees get more leeway to express religion at work first appeared on Federal News Network.
Federal employees get more leeway to express religion at work
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