Discrimination in employment: reasonable accommodations.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, or sexual orientation. Specifically, an employer or other covered entity is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief or observance of an individual unless the accommodation would be an undue hardship on the conduct of the business of the employer or other entity. This bill would include a religious dress practice or a religious grooming practice as a belief or observance covered by the protections against religious discrimination, and would specify that an accommodation of an individual's religious dress practice or religious grooming practice that would require that person to be segregated from the public or other employees is not a reasonable accommodation. This bill would further provide that no accommodation is required if an accommodation would result in the violation of specified laws protecting civil rights. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 12926 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 2386, to be operative only if AB 2386 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.