To not accommodate a request by a female Muslim never to be in work "alone" with any male colleague?

[LibertyPrints]

"Sarah" has worked with our company since December. We have 12 staff (some of whom are part time) across 2 sites. All staff work between the 2 sites. They are retail outlets.

Sarah is Muslim and has recently contacted me to ask if I can ensure she is not ever scheduled to be alone with any male colleague at either site stating this is to do with her religious beliefs.

The manager is male and 3 staff are male. Different staff have different skill levels and they are scheduled where they are best utilised on any given day/week and so that all shifts are pretty equally shared out. It is not practical to agree to this.

For clarity I have no issue with making adjustments for her where I can. For example she asked at interview if she could reduce her lunch hour by varying amounts and then take that extra time out when she wanted to pray at varying times of the day. Even though we don't normally allow breaks to be taken in this way I agreed willingly.

I feel really awkward saying no but it's really far from ideal. AIBU to think if she can't expect this from us?

Fuck me, have we been invaded by UKIP or something? There's a lot of frothy mouthed bollocks on this thread. No wonder the OP's fucked off (no offence to the common sense posters).

Given that she applied for a job within a mixed working environment, then within four months decides that she can't possibly work in that environment, it somewhat screams 'piss taker of the highest order.'

I really think OP should have this thread deleted.

This is a huge site, and 'Sarah' may come along and recognise her situation from the detailed OP. And read all the posts slagging her off for making a reasonable request.

OP, get some proper legal advice and delete the thread. You sound like a good employer who values their staff. Good luck :)

Cashncarry,everyone has got right on their opinion...

Fuck me, have we been invaded by UKIP or something? There's a lot of frothy mouthed bollocks on this thread. No wonder the OP's fucked off (no offence to the common sense posters).

Really ?!?!?!?

And unfortunately the discriminatory nature of those opinions is exactly why women like Sarah needs laws protecting them.

I suspect there was an equal amount of handwringing and irrationality when laws protecting pregnant women came into force.

It's not because she's a woman blistory...she's the one doing the discriminating via religion.

If you can't see that then good for you.

caruthers--i agree with you

Quite, katmat.

I find that the number of question marks and exclamation marks in one's post has a direct and proportionate relation to the amount of bollocks one is spewing.

So yes, really. That's my opinion.

There's a basic, deep-rooted problem - the rules of the (/whatever branch of the) religion involved directly contradict another set of equality rules, those regarding gender discriminations.

Unsurprisingly, as major religions tend to hail from way back in history.

It's very difficult to point this out without being accused of intolerance, but a) the religious rules are intolerant themselves and b) you can't help being male or female, so that should matter more than being religious, which is irrational and which you can help.

It is important that we don't let fear of offending someone religious overrule more rational anti-discrimination rules.

Blistory I don't think this woman or any other religious individual deserves or needs special protection on the grounds of their religion.

There is a wholly legitimate debate to be had over whether religion, something one subscribes to voluntarily should be a protected characteristic like race, sexual orientation or gender. There is a difference between what you are 'black, straight, a woman' and what you believe in.

I believe that as a rational adult, you hold views that are incompatible with the job, than it is your problem not the employer's. I am a vegetarian, I hold the view that eating meat is morally wrong, but do not want or expect special treatment. I certainly wouldn't seek out a job in an abattoir and then complain that I was being asked to slaughter animals and demand my employer found a job where I didn't have to do so.

I don't see how she's discriminating against anyone. She's merely put in a request.

Whether you agree with religion being a protected characteristic or not, the law is clear - she is entitled to reasonable adjustments which mean an employer needs to give clear and concise business reasons for not being able to make the relevant adjustments. Smaller businesses have more leeway as it's expected that they are less likely to be able to make adjustments but they still need to take it seriously.

Cashncarry---as I said before ,everyone has got right on their opinion and just because it's different to yours it doesn't mean person talks b... I agree with caruthers....

I don't see how she's discriminating against anyone. She's merely put in a request.

She's discriminating against any given male because she can't work with him alone.

Of course she's discriminating.

Very measured, RoseRadish.

We had a situation at work where a group of Muslim women students paid for by a certain foreign Government came and demanded we rebuild an area of the building to be open plan as they did not want to share postgrad offices with men. We spend over £50,000 organising this. It took months.

That lot graduated, and the next lot came and demanded we rebuild again and provide small offices, as they had nowhere to adjust their headscarves.

The men in the department all ran around panicking about political correctness, so I said, "Tell them they can adjust their headscarves in the ladies' loos, where we also adjust bras and tights and so on."

They quietened down. Fuss over. No more rebuilding necessary. The whole thing had been about power and control, and making management jump about nervously, not religion IMO.

(We had a deputation of make students on the same course come and refuse to be taught by women, but that is a whole other story).

surely it would be discriminatory to request to not work with someone e.g. because they are gay or from a lower caste?

I have no idea what the latest in this thread is, because I gave up reading at Page 5, but this is really a very simple situation.

As a business, you should consider a request like this but, if granting the request would prove unworkable to your business, you can refuse it without worry of any comeback. Just make sure you explain it thoroughly to her (in writing).

I remember a case study at an employment law seminar I attended recently. Can't remember the exact details but it went something like this:-

A group of Jewish men had requested that they do not work on a Saturday for religious reasons. They made up the majority of the workforce. The company they worked for did business with companies in a country which habitually worked Saturdays. Therefore, had their request been granted the company would not have been properly staffed on one of their usual working days. The company refused the request on the grounds that it was not workable.

This sounds like a very similar situation and is completely reasonable to refuse this request.

This is a huge site, and 'Sarah' may come along and recognise her situation from the detailed OP. And read all the posts slagging her off for making a reasonable request.

Then she'll have learned something useful. And it won't be about making a reasonable request.

Sorry--to clarify, I meant about it not being a reasonable business request.

I think Blistory you are of the point

The men are not being discriminated against. They are suffering no material harm from her request.

But they could feel discriminated against (men) if she doesn't want to work along them ...