Facing religious discrimination as a federal employee can be overwhelming, isolating, and deeply unfair. Whether the issue involves denied religious accommodations, hostility toward your beliefs, pressure to participate in religious activities, or retaliation for speaking up, you deserve clarity, protection, and a powerful advocate in your corner. That’s where an experienced religious discrimination lawyer becomes essential.

At the National Security Law Firm, we don’t just understand federal employment law—we live it. Our attorneys are former federal employees, military officers, agency counsel, and national security practitioners who know exactly how agencies make decisions, how they process EEO claims, and where they cut corners. That insider knowledge is your strategic advantage. We use it to protect your rights, maximize your case value, and hold agencies accountable when they cross the line.

This guide provides the most comprehensive, plain-English explanation available anywhere on the internet about religious discrimination in the federal workplace. You’ll learn:

  • What counts as religious discrimination under Title VII

  • How federal employees request and defend religious accommodations

  • How the Supreme Court’s Groff decision strengthened employee rights

  • What hostile work environment claims look like in real cases

  • How retaliation works—and why it so often becomes the strongest claim

  • How EEO, MSPB, and OSC processes intersect in religious discrimination cases

  • What evidence you need to build a winning case

  • What defenses agencies use and how NSLF dismantles them

Most importantly, you’ll see exactly how our team—made up of former agency insiders, DOHA and military lawyers, intelligence community advisors, and federal employment strategists—fights and wins for federal employees nationwide. We combine deep legal expertise with a mission-driven, military-inspired culture: It’s Our Turn to Fight for You.

Let’s begin.

What Is Religious Discrimination For Federal Employees?

For federal employees, religious discrimination is any unfair treatment connected to your religion, your lack of religion, or your religious practices. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16 prohibit the federal government from discriminating against you based on religion in any aspect of employment, including hiring, promotion, assignments, discipline, training, and termination.

Religion under Title VII is defined very broadly. It includes:

  • Major organized faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc.)

  • Smaller or less common religions

  • Non-traditional or personal belief systems that address ultimate questions about life, death, morality, and purpose

  • Sincerely held non-theistic moral or ethical beliefs

  • Lack of religious belief at all (atheism, agnosticism)

See EEOC Guide to Religious Discrimination.

For federal employees, religious discrimination usually shows up in five main ways:

  1. Disparate treatment because of religion

  2. Denial of reasonable religious accommodation

  3. Hostile work environment based on religion

  4. Retaliation for protected activity related to religion

  5. Conflicts between religious rights and government neutrality under the First Amendment

This guide breaks each of these down using real government standards, recent Supreme Court law (including Groff v. DeJoy), and the new 2025 OPM memos on religious expression and accommodation in the federal workplace.

Who Is Protected From Religious Discrimination In The Federal Government?

As a federal civilian employee or applicant, you are protected if:

  • You are a current or former federal employee

  • You are a federal job applicant

  • You work for a federal agency covered by Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16

  • You are a federal contractor in many circumstances (you may have overlapping rights under Title VII, contract provisions, and whistleblower laws)

Covered individuals include people who:

  • Actively practice a religion

  • Follow only some religious practices

  • Have changed religions

  • Have no religion and object to religious pressure or religious events at work

The protections apply whether you are:

  • Career or career-conditional

  • Term or temporary

  • Probationary (you have some protections, especially for discrimination or retaliation)

  • Supervisory or non-supervisory

Agencies also face additional constraints under 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(1)(A), which lists discrimination based on religion as a prohibited personnel practice.

How Does The Law Define “Religion” For Federal Employees?

Under EEOC guidance, religion is interpreted broadly. It includes:

  • Theistic beliefs

    • Belief in God or gods

    • Membership in formal faith traditions

  • Non-theistic beliefs

    • Moral or ethical beliefs about right and wrong, held with the strength of traditional religious views

    • Worldviews about life, purpose, and death

  • Religious observances and practices, such as:

    • Attending religious services

    • Prayer during the day

    • Wearing religious dress or symbols (hijab, yarmulke, turban, cross, bindi, beard, modest clothing)

    • Dietary rules (kosher, halal, vegetarian for religious reasons, fasting for Ramadan or other holy periods)

    • Observing Sabbath or holy days

    • Religious rituals or ceremonies

  • Lack of religion

    • Atheists and agnostics are protected from religious coercion and from being treated worse because they do not share a religion or religious viewpoint

The law presumes that beliefs are religious and sincere unless the agency has a bona fide reason to question that. Inconsistencies in practice may be relevant, but they do not automatically defeat a claim. Beliefs and levels of observance can evolve over time.

Types Of Religious Discrimination In Federal Employment

1. Disparate Treatment Because Of Religion

Disparate treatment means you are treated worse than others because of your religion or lack of religion. Examples include:

  • Not hiring a qualified applicant who wears a hijab because “it looks too political”

  • Denying a promotion because you are a visible member of a minority religion

  • Giving preferred assignments or opportunities to employees who attend the supervisor’s church or Bible study

  • Rating you lower on “teamwork” because you decline to join group prayers or religious events

  • Penalizing you for taking leave for religious observances when others receive flexibility for secular reasons

Title VII prohibits discrimination whether it is negative bias against your religion or favoritism toward someone else’s religion. It also bars “job segregation,” such as moving you out of public-facing duties because customers supposedly do not like your religious dress.

To prove disparate treatment, you typically show:

  • You engaged in religious conduct or belong to a religious (or non-religious) group

  • You suffered an adverse action

  • Similarly situated colleagues without your religion or practice were treated more favorably

  • The agency’s stated reason is false or not credible

2. Hostile Work Environment Based On Religion

A hostile work environment exists when religiously motivated conduct is so severe or pervasive that a reasonable person in your position would find the workplace hostile or abusive, and you actually feel that way.

Examples include:

  • Persistent mocking of your beliefs, holy texts, or religious practices

  • Regular slurs about your faith or about people of your faith background

  • Co-workers repeatedly pressuring you to convert, attend services, or abandon your beliefs after you ask them to stop

  • A supervisor who regularly links performance ratings or opportunities to participation in religious activities

  • Repeated comments tying you to terrorism, extremism, or disloyalty because of your religion

By contrast, isolated or trivial comments may not be enough. The total picture is what matters:

  • Frequency of the conduct

  • Severity of the comments or behavior

  • Whether it is physically threatening or humiliating

  • Whether it interferes with your work

Agencies are:

  • Automatically liable when a supervisor’s religious harassment results in a tangible employment action

  • Liable for co-worker or contractor harassment if they knew or should have known and did not act promptly to correct it.

3. Religious Accommodation And The New Groff Standard

This is where federal religious discrimination law has shifted the most.

Title VII requires your agency to reasonably accommodate your sincerely held religious beliefs, practices, or observances when they conflict with a work requirement, unless the agency can show undue hardship.

Historically, agencies argued that any more than “de minimis” cost counted as undue hardship. That is no longer enough.

In Groff v. DeJoy (2023), the Supreme Court held that:

  • Employers must show that granting the accommodation would impose a substantial burden on the business in the overall context of its operations

  • “More than de minimis” cost is not the standard

  • The analysis is fact specific and considers the nature, size, and operating costs of the employer, as well as the actual impact of the requested accommodation.

For federal employees, this means:

  • Agencies must do more than point to minor inconvenience or co-worker complaints

  • They must engage in a genuine interactive process and seriously explore accommodations

  • They can no longer reflexively deny requests based on broad claims about “efficiency” or “morale” without evidence

Common Religious Accommodations In Federal Agencies

The EEOC and OPM recognize a wide range of religious accommodations.

Typical accommodations for federal employees include:

  • Scheduling and leave

    • Flexible start and end times to permit prayer or services

    • Shift swaps or voluntary coverage arrangements

    • Comp time, credit hours, or telework to accommodate Sabbath observance or holy days

    • Annual leave or leave without pay for religious holidays and pilgrimages

  • Dress and grooming

    • Accommodations for hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes, veils, bindis, modest dress, religious jewelry

    • Allowing beards or hair length required by faith, subject to legitimate safety requirements

  • Prayer and religious study

    • Use of an empty office or quiet room during breaks for prayer or study

    • Permission to keep religious texts at your workstation

    • Group prayer or study during non-duty time

  • Avoiding participation in religious activities

    • Opting out of official prayers, religious invocations, or faith-based events

    • Avoiding compelled participation in religious messaging or religious-themed trainings

  • Union dues and charity substitutions

    • Allowing payment of equivalent amounts to charity when union dues conflict with religious beliefs

The July 16, 2025 OPM memorandum on “Religious Accommodations for Religious Purposes” encourages agencies to adopt a generous approach to religious accommodations and identifies telework as a typical low cost solution, so long as any denial can be justified with evidence of substantial operational impact.

The 2025 OPM Memo On Religious Expression In The Federal Workplace

On July 28, 2025, OPM issued “Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace.” The memo tells agencies to permit personal religious expression by federal employees to the greatest extent possible, subject to legitimate limits on harassment and operational disruption.

Under this guidance, federal employees generally:

  • May display religious items at their desks, just as they may display non-religious items

  • May pray during non-duty time, alone or in groups

  • May discuss religion with willing co-workers, including inviting them to services

  • May engage in religious expression in public-facing areas, as long as it is personal and not reasonably perceived as the government’s official message

  • May decline religious conversations and express a desire not to participate

At the same time, the memo clarifies that:

  • Agencies may regulate time, place, and manner of all speech

  • Religious expression that crosses into harassment or materially disrupts operations may be limited

  • Co-worker discomfort with religion alone is not enough to constitute undue hardship

Advocacy groups and members of Congress have criticized the memo as giving “special treatment” to religious employees and increasing the risk that federal employees will feel pressured or marginalized based on religious differences.

For you, practically, the 2025 OPM memos and the “Know Your Rights: Religious Freedom in the Federal Workplace” style guidance mean:

  • You have stronger arguments that religious symbols, private prayer, and voluntary conversations must be allowed on the same basis as non-religious expression

  • You have clear support for telework and scheduling accommodations where operational impacts are minor

  • You have leverage when agencies claim “image” or vague morale problems to deny requested accommodations

When Is There “Undue Hardship” And When Is That Just A Pretext?

After Groff, an agency can only deny an accommodation if it can show that granting it would impose a substantial burden in the overall context of its operations.

Factors that may support a true undue hardship include:

  • Significant cost relative to agency size and budget

  • Serious reduction in safety or security

  • Major reduction in operational capacity or response capability

  • Violation of another law or binding regulation

  • Violation of a bona fide seniority system or collective bargaining agreement

Factors that do not usually support undue hardship on their own:

  • Co-worker resentment that you received an accommodation

  • Vague morale concerns

  • A supervisor’s personal discomfort with religion

  • Hypothetical fears that “everyone else might ask for it too,” without evidence

A skilled federal employment lawyer can test the agency’s hardship claims by:

  • Demanding specific data on staffing, schedules, and workload

  • Identifying comparable accommodations already granted for secular reasons

  • Demonstrating that co-workers can volunteer for swaps or coverage

  • Showing that telework or schedule adjustments already exist in similar roles

Religious Harassment Versus Protected Religious Expression

Because of the new OPM memos, many federal employees worry about two extremes:

  • Either feeling silenced about their faith

  • Or feeling overwhelmed by co-workers or supervisors who push religion too aggressively

The law draws lines in a few key places:

Protected expression examples:

  • Wearing religious garb or symbols

  • Displaying a Bible, Quran, or other religious text at your desk

  • Casual conversations about faith with willing co-workers

  • Inviting someone to religious services one time in a non-pressuring way

  • Saying “I prefer not to talk about religion at work”

Potentially unlawful harassment examples:

  • Repeated proselytizing or attempts to convert you after you have clearly said no

  • Linking job opportunities, performance ratings, or awards to religious events

  • Supervisors leading mandatory prayers or religious ceremonies in a way that pressures subordinates

  • Mockery, slurs, or intense pressure to change your religion or your lack of religion

The First Amendment also matters in federal employment. Agencies must avoid establishing or endorsing religion. That means:

  • Agencies must be careful when supervisors lead religious activities

  • Agencies must protect employees who object to religious content in official trainings or events

You are protected both by Title VII and by constitutional limits on government endorsement of religion.

Retaliation For Religious Complaints Or Accommodation Requests

Retaliation is often the strongest claim in federal employment cases.

It is illegal for an agency to punish you because you:

  • Requested a religious accommodation

  • Complained to a supervisor, HR, EEO counselor, union, or agency official about religious discrimination

  • Participated as a witness in someone else’s EEO case involving religion

  • Opposed practices that you reasonably believe violate Title VII

Retaliation can include:

  • Discipline, reprimands, suspensions, or removal

  • Poor performance ratings or PIPs that are not supported by the record

  • Reassignment to less desirable duties or locations

  • Exclusion from trainings, travel, or details

  • Harsh schedule changes that are not applied to others

EEOC has expressly taken the position that requesting religious accommodation is protected activity. Denying a request and then targeting you for speaking up can form a powerful retaliation claim even if the underlying discrimination is harder to prove.

Federal Processes For Religious Discrimination Claims: EEO, MSPB, OSC, And Mixed Cases

EEO Process For Federal Employees

Most religious discrimination claims follow the federal EEO process:

  • Step 1: Contact an EEO counselor

    • Deadline: typically within 45 days of the discriminatory act or the effective date of a personnel action

    • The counselor tries informal resolution

  • Step 2: File a formal complaint

    • If informal resolution fails, you receive a notice of right to file

    • You usually have 15 days to file a formal EEO complaint

  • Step 3: Investigation

    • Agency conducts an investigation, often up to 180 days

    • You receive the report of investigation (ROI)

  • Step 4: Hearing or final agency decision

    • You may request an EEOC administrative judge hearing

    • Or you can request a final agency decision and then appeal

Religious discrimination can be raised as:

  • Disparate treatment

  • Hostile work environment

  • Failure to accommodate

  • Retaliation

MSPB And Mixed Cases

Religious discrimination issues often overlap with appealable adverse actions such as:

  • Suspensions of more than 14 days

  • Demotions

  • Removals

In those situations, you may have a mixed case, where you:

  • File an MSPB appeal and raise religious discrimination as an affirmative defense

  • Or proceed through the EEO mixed case process

Choosing the right path is strategic and can significantly impact timing, remedies, and leverage.

OSC And Prohibited Personnel Practices

If a supervisor or agency takes an action that appears to be a prohibited personnel practice based on religion, you may also seek help from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), particularly if:

  • The action involves a pattern of religious favoritism in promotions or assignments

  • There is serious abuse of authority combined with discrimination

An experienced MSPB lawyer can help you decide:

  • Whether to pursue EEO, MSPB, or OSC

  • How to structure your claims and deadlines

  • How to use each forum to maximize settlement value and remedies

How To Document And Strengthen Your Religious Discrimination Case

Winning a religious discrimination case as a federal employee is not just about being right. It is about building evidence that fits how agencies, EEOC judges, and MSPB administrative judges actually analyze these claims.

Key steps:

  1. Write down what is happening in real time

    • Dates, times, who was present, and what was said

    • Screenshots of emails, chats, and Teams messages

    • Notes about religious comments, denials of accommodations, and shifting explanations

  2. Keep copies of your requests and the agency’s responses

    • Initial accommodation request email or memo

    • Any follow up documentation the agency asked for

    • Written denials, partial approvals, or conditional approvals

  3. Identify comparators and patterns

    • How similarly situated employees without your religion are treated

    • Whether secular preferences are routinely accommodated when religious ones are not

    • Whether employees of the supervisor’s religion receive better treatment

  4. Track performance evidence

    • Strong performance reviews and awards before you complained

    • Sudden negative appraisals or PIP after your protected activity

    • Evidence that you met objectives or that metrics shifted after you complained

  5. Preserve evidence of emotional and practical harm

    • Impact on your health, stress, family, and finances

    • Lost overtime, details, promotions, or GS level raises

At National Security Law Firm, we take a “case value” approach. We look at not only whether the agency violated the law, but how much income, grade progression, and long term earning power is at stake. Federal religious discrimination cases can be leveraged into powerful settlements when they are documented and framed correctly.

Common Agency Defenses And How We Counter Them

Agencies tend to recycle a handful of defenses in religious discrimination cases. Understanding them helps you and your religious discrimination lawyer plan the best strategy.

Typical defenses:

  • “We denied the accommodation because of undue hardship.”

    • We test this by demanding specifics about workload, staffing, safety, and cost, and by comparing how secular flexibility is handled.

  • “We treat everyone the same.”

    • We look for patterns where secular schedule preferences are accommodated, but religious ones are not.

  • “We had performance concerns, unrelated to religion.”

    • We compare performance evidence across time, show timing that links discipline to your religious activity, and identify similarly situated employees without religion issues.

  • “It is just personal conflict, not religion.”

    • We examine religious comments, pressure to conform, or favoritism based on faith.

  • “We have to avoid the appearance of endorsing religion.”

    • We use the 2025 OPM memos and EEOC guidance to show that personal religious expression by employees, on the same terms as personal secular expression, is not government endorsement.

Our team’s insider experience with federal agencies allows us to recognize which defenses are real and which are pretext. That is critical when negotiating settlement terms and deciding whether to push forward to hearing.

How The “Know Your Rights” Style Guidance Helps Federal Employees

Guides like “Religious Freedom in the Federal Workplace – Know Your Rights” and the 2025 OPM memos do more than restate Title VII. They:

  • Clearly affirm that federal employees have the right to express their faith, or lack of faith, at work

  • Emphasize that agencies must not punish employees for practicing religion on the same terms as secular expression

  • Explain that employees may not be coerced to participate in religious activities and may object when they feel pressured

We use these government and advocacy documents to:

  • Show that your expectations were reasonable and aligned with official guidance

  • Demonstrate that agency leadership knew or should have known the rules

  • Undercut agency claims that they “did not realize” your rights were protected

Practical Examples Of Religious Discrimination Scenarios For Federal Employees

Here are some scenarios we see repeatedly:

  • Scheduling and Sabbath cases

    • An employee requests a schedule change for weekly Sabbath observance. The agency denies it as inconvenient, while routinely granting flex schedules for daycare, carpool, or schooling. After Groff, this is far easier to challenge.

  • Dress and grooming cases

    • An agency bans religious head coverings or beards that are not shown to interfere with safety or security, while allowing secular hats or hairstyles. EEOC guidance strongly supports religious dress accommodations absent real safety concerns.

  • Supervisor led religious activities

    • A supervisor opens mandatory staff meetings with prayer or devotional readings. Employees who decline to participate receive lower ratings or are excluded from opportunities. This raises both Title VII and First Amendment concerns.

  • Retaliation after lodging a complaint

    • An employee is denied a promotion or suddenly placed on a PIP shortly after filing an EEO counseling request about religious comments or denied accommodations. Timing and shifting explanations are key evidence here.

  • Objections to employer sponsored messaging

    • Employees object on religious grounds to certain mandatory trainings or DEI content. Agencies must balance religious rights, equal employment obligations, and operational needs. Narrow, tailored accommodations can be possible in some cases.

Each of these scenarios requires careful factual development and a strategic decision about whether to pursue EEO, MSPB, OSC, or a combination.

Why Choose NSLF As Your Federal Religious Discrimination Lawyers

If you are searching for a religious discrimination lawyer, federal employment lawyer, EEO lawyer, or MSPB lawyer, you will see many options. Here is what sets National Security Law Firm apart.

  • 4.9 star Google reviews and national reputation

    • We are trusted nationwide by federal employees who face complex, career defining disputes. See our client feedback here: NSLF Google Reviews.

  • Dual insider knowledge

    • Our team includes former federal agency counsel and former administrative decisionmakers. We have advised agencies on exactly the types of EEO, performance, and disciplinary issues you are facing now.

  • Federal employment and national security focus

    • We do not dabble in every area of law. Our practice is built around federal employment, MSPB, EEO, OSC, security clearance, and related national security issues. Religious discrimination often intersects with these areas, and we know how to navigate that.

  • Attorney Review Board “war room” approach

    • On complex cases, we convene an internal Attorney Review Board where multiple lawyers review your case, stress test strategies, and refine arguments before key deadlines and hearings. You get the benefit of a team, not just a solo practitioner.

  • Washington, D.C. location with nationwide reach

    • We are anchored in Washington, D.C., where federal agencies, MSPB, and other key decisionmakers are located. At the same time, we represent federal employees nationwide through secure virtual platforms.

  • Financing that meets federal employees where they are

    • Many federal workers cannot pay for full representation up front. Our Pay Later by Affirm structure allows many clients to spread fees over time while we fight to protect their careers.

  • Mission driven, disabled veteran founded firm

    • Our firm is founded and led by disabled veterans and former federal employees. We understand service, sacrifice, and what is at stake when the federal government threatens your livelihood.

  • Related practice area strength

    • Religious discrimination often intersects with security clearance issues, whistleblower retaliation, and performance or discipline. Our team includes experienced security clearance lawyers, OSC practitioners, and MSPB litigators who can coordinate your strategy across all fronts.

When you combine insider knowledge, focused practice areas, and a battle tested team approach, you get a federal employment law firm that treats your case like a mission.

Federal Employment Defense Resource Hub

If you are dealing with religious discrimination, you are often dealing with other federal employment issues too: performance ratings, PIPs, suspensions, removals, or whistleblower activity.

We built a comprehensive Federal Employment Defense Resource Hub to help federal employees understand:

  • How agencies build cases against employees

  • How MSPB judges analyze adverse actions

  • How EEO, MSPB, OSC, and union grievances fit together strategically

  • How to protect your career value, not just your current job

You can explore that hub here:
National Security Law Firm – Nationwide Federal Employment Lawyers

We also recommend reading our in depth guides to:

  • Federal performance management and PIPs

  • Suspensions, demotions, and removals

  • Age, sex, and national origin discrimination in federal service

  • Whistleblower retaliation and OSC complaints

These resources are designed to give you plain English explanations plus the kind of strategy tips that insiders use.

Ready To Take The Next Step? Book A Free Consultation

If you believe you are experiencing religious discrimination or your accommodation request has been denied, you do not have to figure this out alone.

Here is what you can do right now:

  • Write down what is happening

  • Preserve emails, chats, and performance documents

  • Note the 45 day EEO deadline

  • Reach out before you respond to a PIP, proposed suspension, or proposed removal

Then, schedule a free consultation with our federal employment lawyers:

Book a Free Consultation with National Security Law Firm

We will:

  • Listen to your story and identify your strongest claims

  • Explain your options under EEO, MSPB, OSC, and union processes

  • Help you decide whether to push for accommodation, pursue settlement, or take your case to hearing

Our consultations are confidential, pressure free, and focused on one thing: protecting your career and maximizing the long term value of your case.

National Security Law Firm: It’s Our Turn to Fight for You.