The memo requires that federal agencies ensure the right to express personal religious beliefs in the workplace ‘to the greatest extent possible.’
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo on July 28 aimed at protecting religious expression among federal workers, allowing them to display religious items and discuss religion in the workplace.
OPM Director Scott Kupor stated in the memo that federal agencies must ensure employees have the right to express their religious beliefs “to the greatest extent possible,” in accordance with the Constitution, unless such expression would cause “an undue hardship on business operations.”
“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” Kupor said in a statement announcing the latest guidance for federal agencies.
The memo outlines forms of permissible religious expression by federal workers in the workplace, such as displaying Bibles, crosses, crucifixes, and mezuzahs on desks and within designated workspaces.
Federal agencies must also allow their workers to engage in “individual or communal religious expressions,” provided such conduct does not take place during on-duty time, according to the memo.
It stated that federal employees should be able to engage in conversations about religious topics, including encouraging coworkers to participate in religious expression of faith, such as prayer, and “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views,” so long as such efforts are not harassing in nature.
According to the memo, federal workers may engage coworkers in polite discussion, while not on duty, about why they believe their faith is correct, and why a “non-adherent should re-think” their religious beliefs.
However, it stated that if the non-adherent requests that such attempts stop, the employee is expected to honor that request.
In addition, federal workers are permitted to invite coworkers to church services, even if they belong to “a different faith.” Supervisors may also post on bulletin boards invitations to Easter service at their church.
The memo also states that park rangers leading tours in national parks may join their tour groups in prayer, and that Veterans Affairs doctors may pray over their patients for recovery. Security guards stationed at the front desks of federal office buildings may also display religious items on their desks.
Kupor said the guidance is intended to ensure that the federal workplace is compliant with the law while also fostering an environment that is “welcoming to Americans of all faiths.”
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