NCJ Number
159226
Journal
Seton Hall Law Review Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 44-91
Date Published
1995
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the theory regarding harassing environments and its application to different protected categories such as religious and racial groups concludes that a different standard should be used for religion than for other protected classes.
Abstract
As harassment law developed, the courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that harassment based on race, national origin, religion, and sex were equal. However, when the EEOC recently proposed guidelines that incorporated this idea, religious groups and others strongly opposed them on the grounds that the ban on display of sexual-content posters and magazines in the workplace would curtail First Amendment freedom of religious expression. Advocates for the position that all harassment should be handled equally can cite consistent language in Supreme Court and lower court opinions as well as in EEOC statements. Opponents wishing to distance religious harassment from sexual harassment can cite the development of harassment law as revealing that sexual harassment has in fact been handled differently and that handling religious harassment under separate standards would thus not be a radical departure. Analysis precedents, politics, and First Amendment considerations suggests that if the EEOC keeps the reasonable victim standard for other protected classes, it should adopt a reasonable person standard for religion. Footnotes