To send an employee to a client even though she refuses because of her religion?

[GelatinousDynamo]

I have a new employee in my team, she is a devout Muslim. She's been with us since January and there were no issues so far, she's getting along well with everyone and her performance was fine. I sent her an email on Friday afternoon to say that our client has now (finally) prepared all necessary documents and that she should go there and go over everything with them one day next week. She wrote me back today that she can't do that because only men work in the department and she can't spend the day alone with strange men (because of her religion).

AIBU to insist that she does her job and goes there or would that be religious discrimination? She shares an office with a male colleague and has never complained about it. She's the first devout Muslim I've ever had on my team and I honestly have no experience at all with such issues. She's the only one who has the necessary experience and isn't already scheduled elsewhere.

I think it’s very risky for OP to ask a client to provide an employee of theirs (at their cost) to chaperone an external consultant. Unless they are also Muslim and/or very understanding they are unlikely to want to pay extra to support someone else’s religion. They’ll simply not place any orders in future. That’s a financial disaster.

OP’s company probably have to document their request and her refusal. Then send someone else.

looking ahead OP will have to make requests in writing and when they are refused record the answer.

Take legal advice and raise this with the employee in a sensitive way at a review. It being a technical industry with external clients, problems with men might affect 100% of the external visits. If that’s an essential part of the job how has she dealt with this before? How can this be supported going forward? Record all the details and then hopefully things improve. Best case you find a way to work it out together? (Seek legal advice on how all this has to be managed regarding the Equality Act etc)

But if at the end of the probation if she’s not been able to complete all the work required of her roll then she fails her probation surely?

If she is in a technical/male dominated girl and didn’t mention this restriction at interview then thats a serious omission. Especially if it’s the reason she left her last employer.

Absolutely yes, if someone observed the sabbath and sees it as a day of rest, then adjustments should be made so that they don’t have to work on Sundays. This was an issue many years ago when the Sunday trading laws were changed, with many Christians refusing to work on Sundays.

I don’t think it matters whether you think religion is ridiculous yourself (I am an atheist although my daughter is a strict Muslim) but I believe that everyone should respect other people’s religious views whatever we think about them and understand that to many people, their religion is an incredibly important part of their lives.

Do the female health professionals ask for a chaperone so they aren't alone with a man? I have met Muslim women who can't be alone with a another man. I have also known of Muslim women who do it to get on with the job but do nor disclose this to their family.

Hi, I haven't read all messages so apologies if I am behind.
I am ex HR, we had this with a member of staff and sought legal advice.
She was an events planner and refused to arrange a Halloween event due to her religion.
It was determined that she could do the majority of her job unaffected by her religion so it was reasonable to allow her to miss this event out.
If she declared that she couldn't do say Christmas and Easter events then that would of been too much of an impact to the business and not in line with her job role so the business would of had reasonable grounds to end her employment, hope this helps x

What exactly is she being asked to do?

Only men work in the department? How does she know this, is that true? Are there no women in the building at all? Again, how does she know this?

Why did she apply for this position when she knew full well that she’d be in this tricky situation sooner or later?

Is this even a real situation in the first place?

Which industry sector is the client? I'm struggling to think of any of our clients (even in large civils) where there are no women employed and I work in the male dominated end of technology.

Islaam, like every other large faith, has many variations. Its hardly surprising that some have different rules to follow just as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and others do.

I have many devout practitioners of different faith groups and sometimes just strong ethical stances with respect to particularly clients. On the very rare occasions where there is a potential conflict I've swapped people around. I would hesitate to send a brand new employee alone to a client unless they were recruited at a senior level, simply because it takes time to understand how we work with clients so a degree of buddying is normal. Presumably you do at least have a client account lead with the client or some other onsite presence who could join a meeting in the buddy capacity?

But why would she have known that she would necessarily be in this position? I think the vast majority of offices would have a mixture of men and women in their teams.

Where it’s possible at no cost to swap things around, I agree completely with you about being accommodating.

But for the OP the bottom line is about money/fees. A chaperone might wipe out the profit. Asking the client to come to them might impact on future orders if they feel inconvenienced or are getting a poorer service.

Either way the company profit is reduced. If OP is a director and not on salary thats money out of her earnings.

So the question is - how much would you be prepared to lose out of your own earnings to support someone else’s religious belief?

sorry to be crass but that’s the commercial business reality of this. Running a business is bloody hard work

This really sums this entire clusterf*k perfectly. Thank you.

Is there a workaround that can be found? Obviously you need HR and legal advice but I would like to think that someone would give her a chance and attempt to find a workaround before just ending her employment because it's <2 years.

I work in healthcare and this situation comes up not infrequently, we have nurses who prefer to have a Sunday off so they can attend church, as long as it doesn't become a problem to the rest of the team that can be managed pretty easy. Also I've worked with JWs who won't be involved in administration of blood products. We also have very specific guidance from our regulator regarding the provision of abortion care and religious exemption. It's definitely not a 'if you can't do this you can't work here' situation and 9/10 there is a workaround found. I guess if it was a HCSW who refused personal care to all males it might be more of an issue.

Nope. It’s a technical industry. It’s male dominated. Engineering and technical jobs are male dominated. It goes with the territory. There are certain situations where it’s obvious. Eg Would you go to a regular Arsenal match and expect a female crowd?

I absolutely disagree. Refusing to work on a Sunday because of faith, wouldn’t work now as it wouldn’t be fair on the other people who had to work. Most people wouldn’t want to work on a Sunday
and that would cause tensions between the staff members. The only fair way would be to treat everyone the same.

It wouldn’t be classes as a simple reasonable adjustment.

No, but I also wouldn’t expect to be the only woman in the crowd at a football game.

This woman has no issue working with men - she just has a religious requirement not to be alone with men unless there are women who can see them (since a glass walled office with a male co-worker is fine).

That’s very different and doing whatever is needed to avoid it is far more likely to be seen as a reasonable accommodation than if it were necessary to address the ‘she won’t work with men, ever’ that people are claiming she said.

You really don’t want to clarify whether you value her and whether you would miss her contribution in the team if she left

I would definitely expect there to be some women in the crowd at an Arsenal football match. I used to go to football matches with my husband regularly years ago and there were always some women.

That is completely different!

I was arguing that a female muslim HCP can't refuse to provide a service to men because they are men. The law is clear that you cannot refuse to provide a service to someone because of their protected characteristic ( in this case their sex).

It is well established that HCP can consciously object to providing services which will end life ( such as abortion and I am sure if assisted dying is made legal then there will be an ability to refuse that too). That is entirely reasonable imo.

Yes, this. I’m a committed church-going Christian. I’ve never known any HCPs at church who could refuse to work on Sunday, or who would even think to ask if they could. It just isn’t a thing.

Not in her male dominated tech role, as OP has explained.

"She shares her office with a male colleague and has no problems shaking hands with men... "

@GelatinousDynamo

She has shot herself in the foot right there. Big time.

Document every interaction/handshake she has, document the time spent in the office with the other (non-related) male, and then proceed to sack her.

She cannot selectively choose which parts of her religion suit her work life.

Either she is all in or she isnt. That she handshakes other non-related men is seen by "some Muslims" as a big no-no, but she does it.

So to claim she cant be in an office of other men is fucking utter horseshit.

Dont let the tail wag the dog. Give her one chance and if she refuses, sack her.

Its that simple. And before any claims I am being anti-Muslim/Islamic etc, I am of the same faith.

It's a bit early to say, really. She has good technical knowledge and clever ideas, but still needs experience. This was her chance to gain it, I really thought of this project as an opportunity for her to develop.

To answer another question: She knows that she'll only be dealing with men, because her and I have met with this client before. She did not raise it as a possible issue at that time, btw. And asking the client to accommodate her is a) ridiculous, we'll never get hired by them again if we try that, and b) impossible, it's really only men we're working with there. And yes, it has to be on site.

Religion is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. If a Muslim woman refuses to be unchaperoned with a male client, OP insists and the employee resigns as a result, they would have a case for constructive dismissal. OP should be looking to find reasonable adjustment, such as a chaperone or asking the client to maybe come into the office so that the employee is not alone with them.

No they don’t. Employers can discriminate as long as it’s a proportionate act for a legitimate purpose, which is why in some jobs they can ask for certain ages or sexes. What this employee is asking for is ludicrous in the UK in 2025.

@FeministUnderTheCatriarchy actually people who areu Muslim believe you are born it so there's no choice

So a chaperone maybe as a form of reasonable adjustment? And remember ‘reasonable’ is the important factor here. It’s not always possible, and if you can’t find anything that’s operationally reasonable then you’ve fulfilled your obligations under the Equality Act.