The Missouri Human Rights Act (the Act) prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment. It also prohibits housing providers, such as property owners, property managers, and realtors, from discriminating against individuals due to their religion in the rental or sale of housing or the terms, conditions or privileges of tenancy. The Act prohibits lenders from discriminating against individuals due to their religion by providing less favorable terms for loans for housing. In employment, the Act applies to employment agencies, labor organizations, the State and its political subdivision, and employers with six or more employees but does not apply to employers owned or operated by a religious or sectarian organization. The Act covers all businesses that offer their goods and services to the general public, including local and state governments; therefore, such entities cannot refuse, withhold from, or deny accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges to persons based on their religion.
Under The Act:
- Employers, housing providers, and businesses may not treat employees, applicants, tenants, or customers more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices.
- Employees cannot be forced to participate -- or not participate -- in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
- Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices by allowing flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps of shifts, job reassignments, lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements, and other workplace practices, policies, and/or procedures.
- An employer is not required to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer’s legitimate business interests. An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees’ job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated employee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
- Employers must permit employees to engage in religious expression, unless the religious expression would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Generally, an employer may not place more restrictions on religious expression than on other forms of expression that have a comparable effect on workplace efficiency.
- Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment and discrimination of their employees. An employer can reduce the chance that employees will engage unlawful religious harassment and discrimination by implementing an anti-harassment policy and having an effective procedure for reporting, investigating, and correcting harassing and discriminatory conduct.
If you believe that you have been discriminated against, you may take our Online Inquiry Assessment. If the assessment indicates MCHR would likely have jurisdiction over your situation, you will have the opportunity to complete and return a Preliminary Intake Questionnaire for an intake officer to review.