When most people think of religious discrimination the usual denial of accommodation by the employer comes to mind. A situation that arose with Kelly Services in California puts a different meaning to the term. In the recent case of Noyes v. Kelly Services, an employee was turned down for a promotion and filed a lawsuit charging reverse religious discrimination under the California and federal antibias laws. She claimed that she was discriminated against for not being part of the same faith that the manager belonged to. The woman claimed that after having applied for a promotion she was turned down in favor of someone who had been there six years less, and lacked the masters degree in business administration that the plaintiff held. As proof of this bias the plaintiff pointed to the last six promotions by the manager, five of which were members of the same faith.

The Courts found that:

(1) although Kelly Services argued that the promotion decision was consensus-based, the other managers couldn’t recall reaching a consensus, and one stated that the manager ultimately made the decision;

(2) His actions prevented full consideration of the woman for the job by the other managers;

(3) He favored Fellowship members and the co-worker in particular (for example, paying the co-worker a higher salary for the same job she held and frequently hiring Fellowship members as temporary contractors and giving them management jobs).

The case went to a jury which awarded the employee $647,000 for economic and noneconomic losses, in addition to a whopping $5.9 million in punitive damages.

Workplace favoritism can be an expensive issue, Here are some tactics for avoiding similar problems as seen on BLR.com:

• Have clear policies to govern how promotion and hiring decisions are made.
• Make sure the promotion selection process includes oversight and review by upper management and/or human resources.
• Provide training for managers on the policies and procedures governing promotions.

Get all your policies and desktop training for employees at HRSentry.