Religious Holidays

Religious holidays are observance days significant to an employee's faith tradition that may or may not coincide with public or company holidays. In diverse workforces, the range of significant religious observance dates extends well beyond the Christian calendar that shapes most Western public holiday schedules — encompassing Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and many other traditions with observance dates that vary year to year and are rarely reflected in standard company holiday schedules. Employers in most jurisdictions have legal obligations to accommodate employees' religious observance through reasonable accommodation — which may include allowing employees to swap holidays, use floating holidays, take unpaid leave, or adjust schedules for religious observance without career penalty, unless accommodation creates genuine undue hardship.