What You Need to Know About Muslim Employees During Ramadan

By Mark Lowery
DiversityInc

Lobna Ismail doesn’t need detailed studies or overpowering statistics to illustrate that Islam is the least understood religion in corporate America.

As an American-born Muslim woman of Egyptian descent, Ismail she can recount story after story in which managers or companies were culturally or religiously insensitive or outright discriminatory against Muslim employees.

There’s the story of a manager who fired Muslims who asked for time to pray during the day. And then there’s the account of a well-intentioned Florida healthcare company that scheduled its fall festival during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when followers fast from dawn until dusk.

“They had all of these events planned including wonderful meals for employees,” says Ismail, president of Connecting Cultures, a Maryland-based consulting firm that develops corporate-training programs. “The only problem was that it was all scheduled during the work days [during Ramadan] and most of the Muslims were fasting and couldn’t enjoy any of it.”

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States and the number of Muslims in the work force will continue to increase. A basic understanding of Islam and its religious and cultural practices, including Ramadan, which will begin this weekend, can help smart companies keep loyal employees and avoid legal pitfalls.

“We’re not looking for special treatment …just looking for acceptance of one’s religious practices,” Ismail says.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the number of workplace discrimination complaints involving Muslims has nearly doubled since 2001, when the agency recorded 330. So far this year, there have been 565 such complaints.

Dianna Johnston, the EEOC’s assistant legal counsel, says many of the complaints involve harassment by coworkers or managers not allowing traditional religious garb. “There’s no question there was a dramatic jump [in alleged bias incidents against Muslim employees] after 2001. It ranges from people not getting hired because they are Muslims to workers being called terrorists by coworkers,” Johnston says.

Khadija Athman, civil-rights manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Washington, D.C., says most companies could avoid religious-discrimination lawsuits by allowing simple, non-intrusive accommodations.

“Many times, an employer is not trying to be prejudiced against Muslims, but because of a lack of understanding of Islam, the result will be discriminatory,” Athman explains. “When that happens, you can lose an employee—or worse.”

So what should companies do to respect the rights of Muslim employees? The first step is gaining a basic knowledge of Islam and Muslims, including:

Prayer or “Salat”: Between dawn and late evening, many Muslims pray five times daily. Depending on an employee’s work shift, some of these prayer times are likely to happen while at work. Although privacy isn’t required, Muslims can’t be interrupted during prayer. Managers can accommodate these prayers in several ways, including offering floating breaks that any employee can use for any reason or providing separate rooms that any employee can use for any reason. “That’s normally not a problem if an employee has his or her own cubicle,” Athman says. “The employee just needs a clean, dry area away from the public.” Also, if an employee is praying and does not immediately respond to a request, do not interpret this as disrespect or insubordination.

Friday prayer: Many Muslims attend group or “communal” prayer on Fridays. These services happen around midday and can last between 45 and 90 minutes. If Muslims do not have a place to conduct the prayer service or enough fellow Muslims at work to do it there, they may ask to go to a nearby mosque. Managers can usually accommodate these prayer services by extending the employee’s lunch hour and allowing the time to be made up.

Ramadan: Mark this holiday on the company’s annual calendar, but remember that the date changes every year as the timing of Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar. As many Muslims will be fasting during this time, carefully consider workloads and project due dates during this period. Since many Muslims will be fasting and won’t need a lunch hour, some employers allow employees to shorten their workday by an hour during this holiday. This will allow many Muslims to return home to break their fast with their families or others in the Islamic community. “This is a way to do right by an employee who is Muslim,” Ismail says. If you plan company events during this period that include food, make sure the events start after sunset (when fasting ends) and include food items Muslims can eat.

Food: In addition to not eating pork, some Muslims only eat and drink things that are legally permissible under Islamic law. Many of these restrictions concern how meat is prepared. Islamic law also forbids drinking intoxicating beverages except for medicinal purposes. Events that include food should include items that Muslims are permitted to eat.

Holidays: Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha are the major Islamic holidays. The first, Eid ul-Fitr, is a three-day holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan fast. Eid ul-Adha signals the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It starts on the tenth day of the twelfth Islamic month. Many companies provide personal days or floating holidays that can be used for this purpose. Again, companies should carefully consider project due dates and work loads during these holidays. “It would be like making a report due on Christmas,” Ismail says.

Dress: Muslim men and women are required to dress modestly in public. For women, that means everything except their faces and hands must be covered. A hijab, or headscarf, must be worn whenever a woman can be seen by a man other than her husband or close male relatives. Men are required to wear loose, flowing clothes that don’t accentuate the contours of the body.

Source: DiversityInc., Sept 23, 2006