text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 
  1999''.
  
  SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.
  
      (a) Definitions.--Section 701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
  (42 U.S.C. 2000e(j)) is amended--
              (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)'';
              (2) by inserting ``, after initiating and engaging in an 
          affirmative and bona fide effort,'' after ``unable'';
              (3) by striking ``an employee's'' and all that follows 
          through ``religious'' and insert ``an employee's religious''; 
          and
              (4) by adding at the end the following:
      ``(2) As used in this subsection, the term `employee' includes a 
  prospective employee.
      ``(3) As used in this subsection, the term `undue hardship' means 
  an accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense. For 
  purposes of determining whether an accommodation requires significant 
  difficulty or expense--
              ``(A) an accommodation shall be considered to require 
          significant difficulty or expense if the accommodation will 
          result in the inability of an employee to perform the essential 
          functions of the employment position of the employee; and
              ``(B) other factors to be considered in making the 
          determination shall include--
                      ``(i) the identifiable cost of the accommodation, 
                  including the costs of loss of productivity and of 
                  retraining or hiring employees or transferring 
                  employees from one facility to another, in relation to 
                  the size and operating cost of the employer;
                      ``(ii) the number of individuals who will need the 
                  particular accommodation to a religious observance or 
                  practice; and
                      ``(iii) for an employer with multiple facilities, 
                  the degree to which the geographic separateness or 
                  administrative or fiscal relationship of the facilities 
                  will make the accommodation more difficult or 
                  expensive.''.
      (b) Employment Practices.--Section 703 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
  2000e-2) is amended by adding at the end the following:
      ``(o)(1) As used in this subsection:
              ``(A) The term `employee' includes a prospective employee.
              ``(B) The term `leave of general usage' means leave 
          provided under the policy or program of an employer, under 
          which--
                      ``(i) an employee may take leave by adjusting or 
                  altering the work schedule or assignment of the 
                  employee according to criteria determined by the 
                  employer; and
                      ``(ii) the employee may determine the purpose for 
                  which the leave is to be utilized.
              ``(C) The term `undue hardship' has the meaning given the 
          term in section 701(j)(3).
      ``(2) For purposes of determining whether an employer has committed 
  an unlawful employment practice under this title by failing to provide 
  a reasonable accommodation to the religious observance or practice of 
  an employee, an accommodation by the employer shall not be deemed to be 
  reasonable if such accommodation does not remove the conflict between 
  employment requirements and the religious observance or practice of the 
  employee.
      ``(3) An employer shall be considered to commit such a practice by 
  failing to provide such a reasonable accommodation for an employee if 
  the employer refuses to permit the employee to utilize leave of general 
  usage to remove such a conflict solely because the leave will be used 
  to accommodate the religious observance or practice of the employee.
      ``(4) It shall not be a defense to a claim of unlawful employment 
  practice under this title for failure to provide a reasonable 
  accommodation to a religious observance or practice of an employee that 
  such accommodation would be in violation of a bona fide seniority 
  system if, in order for the employer to reasonably accommodate such 
  observance or practice--
              ``(A) an adjustment would be made in the employee's work 
          hours (including an adjustment that requires the employee to 
          work overtime in order to avoid working at a time that 
          abstention from work is necessary to satisfy religious 
          requirements), shift, or job assignment, that would not be 
          available to any employee but for such accommodation; or
              ``(B) the employee and any other employee would voluntarily 
          exchange shifts or job assignments, or voluntarily make some 
          other arrangement between the employees.
      ``(5)(A) An employer shall not be required to pay premium wages or 
  confer premium benefits for work performed during hours to which such 
  premium wages or premium benefits would ordinarily be applicable, if 
  work is performed during such hours only to accommodate religious 
  requirements of an employee.
      ``(B) As used in this paragraph--
              ``(i) the term `premium benefit' means an employment 
          benefit, such as seniority, group life insurance, health 
          insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, annual leave, an 
          educational benefit, or a pension, that is greater than the 
          employment benefit due the employee for an equivalent period of 
          work performed during the regular work schedule of the 
          employee; and
              ``(ii) the term `premium wages' includes overtime pay and 
          compensatory time off, premium pay for night, weekend, or 
          holiday work, and premium pay for standby or irregular duty.''.
  
  SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.
  
      (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
  and the amendments made by section 2 take effect on the date of 
  enactment of this Act.
      (b) Application of Amendments.--The amendments made by section 2 do 
  not apply with respect to conduct occurring before the date of 
  enactment of this Act.
target: Prohibits deeming an accommodation by the employer reasonable if the accommodation does not remove the conflict between employment requirements and the religious observance or practice. Excludes, in certain circumstances, a defense that the accommodation would be in violation of a seniority system. Prohibits requiring payment of premium wages for work performed during hours to which premium wages would ordinarily be applicable if work is performed during those hours only to accommodate religious requirements of an employee.
feat_title: Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 1999