Requests for Time Off for Holy Days in a Multi-Faith Workplace

With all the focus on the Christmas season, employers need to consider the needs of employees who are not members of the Christian faith. This is not a matter of being "politically correct." It's recognizing the reality of today's workplaces.

With an increasing percentage of employees following a religion other than the Christian faith, organizations need to determine how they will respond to requests for time off to mark holy days that do not fall on a statutory holiday.

The Human Rights Code requires employers to accommodate these requests (to the point of undue hardship), however it currently does not require that time off be paid.

Some options available to employers include:

• Require employees to use vacation days or take an unpaid day (this is the most cost effective option for employers, but does bring up a question of fairness as it would not be necessary for a Christian employee to use a vacation day or lose pay in order to observe their holy days)
• Provide all employees with a certain number of paid "personal days" or "floater days" and encourage them to be used for this purpose (you will have to offer this benefit to all employees)
• Allow employees to "reschedule" certain statutory holidays to be used for their own holy days, if they agree to work on Christmas and/or Good Friday if your business is open on those days (note that employees must be paid at a premium rate on those days, such as time and a half, as per ESA)
• Provide a paid day off for employees to observe specific holy days (if requested in advance) without any prerequisite that they work on Christmas and/or Good Friday (this option permits non-Christians to observe their holy days without a financial penalty, but may result in resentment from other employees for what they may perceive as an extra benefit for select employees)
• Request that employees make up time at an unspecified later date after you give them a paid day off (potentially a good compromise, but management will need to monitor compliance)

IMPORTANT!   

Regardless of the choice your company makes, it is critically important to determine your policy in advance of a request and apply it consistently across the organization.

Don't leave this important issue to be decided by each supervisor, your company will be opening itself up to unwanted complaint of discrimination. Imagine the ramifications of one supervisor allowing a member of a particular faith to have a paid day off while another denies the same request to a member of a different faith.

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