ABA Midyear Meeting 2016: Accommodating Religious Attire in the Workplace

Navigating workplace dress requirements can be challenging for candidates seeking employment in a work environment whose look policy is in conflict with their religious practices. How can new hires avoid these conflicts? What responsibilities do employers have in accommodating these employees? On this Special Report, trial attorney Siri Thanasombat with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, executive director Zahra Billoo of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and shareholder at Littler Mendelson P.C. Dionysia L. Johnson-Massie sit down with Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti to discuss their ABA Midyear panel on accommodating religious attire in the workplace.

Zahra Billoo is the executive director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is also a co-founder of Project Feed and served as a board member of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California Foundation. Zahra graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Sirithon (Siri) Thanasombat is a trial attorney with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission based in San Francisco. She received a degree in Sociology from U.C. Berkeley and her Master’s Degree from Princeton University. Siri received her law degree from New York University.

Dionysia L. Johnson-Massie is a shareholder at Littler Mendelson and was named by Savoy Magazine as one of the most influential black lawyers of 2015. She received a degree in Psychology from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.