Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, through its Institute for Public Affairs, welcomes the introduction of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act in the House of Representatives by Representative Bill Goodling (R-Pa), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Stating his “concern with the instances of employers unreasonably refusing to accommodate the religious needs of workers,” Chairman Goodling introduced the bill as a House companion to identical legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Dan Coats (R-IN) and John Kerry (D-MA) and co-sponsored by Senators Sam Brownback, Mike DeWine, Joe Liberman and Daniel Moynihan.

Nathan Diament, director of the Institute for Public Affairs, stated that “Chairman Bill Goodling’s sponsorship of this legislation is a giant step forward in our effort, embodied in the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, to ensure that religious citizens are able to be good workers and faithful to their religion. We look forward to working with the Chairman, whose committee is responsible for reviewing this initiative, to building a strong bi-partisan coalition in the House in support of the protection of employees’ religious rights just as we have built such a coalition in the Senate and passing this critical legislation soon.”