Must employers allow use of a conference room for prayer?

An employer facing such a request as a religious accommodation should work closely with the employees involved to determine whether their religious needs can be accommodated without causing an undue hardship for the company. Whether a reasonable accommodation would impose undue hardship (and therefore not be required) depends on the particulars of the business and the requested accommodation.

When the room is needed for business purposes, the company can deny its use for personal religious purposes. However, allowing the employees to use a conference room for prayers likely would not impose an undue hardship on the company in many other circumstances.

Similarly, prayer often can be performed during breaks, so that providing sufficient time during work hours for prayer would not result in an undue hardship. If going to another building for prayer takes longer than the allotted break periods, the employees can still be accommodated if the nature of the work makes flexible scheduling feasible. The company can require employees to make up any work time missed for religious observance.

In evaluating undue hardship, the company should consider only whether it can accommodate the employee(s) who made the request. If the company can accommodate the employees, it should do so. The company should not deny the requested accommodation based on speculation that other employees may seek the same accommodation. If other employees do, in fact, request the same accommodation and granting it to all of the requesters would cause undue hardship, the company can make an appropriate adjustment at that time.