I periodically have our employment agreements, handbook, and other important documents reviewed by lawyers or HR consultants. Since we recently updated our Employee Handbook, I sent it off to our primary lawyer to review. The major redlines were the 5-6 scripture references in the footnotes, all flagged for removal.
The logic to remove scripture from an employee handbook is simple: to avoid a religious discrimination lawsuit based on the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A possible scenario is that a disgruntled employee claims the company is discriminating against them based on their religion and creating a hostile work environment. The prosecuting lawyer can then cite our employee handbook as evidence of our religious bias, helping build his case.
I pay our lawyer to minimize and flag potential liability and since he explained his position so well (like any good lawyer should), I removed the scripture references in our handbook. I thought, “My testimony is not merely in the footnotes, so if I can reduce the exposure and still hold my personal testimony, that’s a net-gain situation.”
As the weeks passed, the first line of Proverbs 3:6 came to mind several times: “In ALL your ways acknowledge him.” In the past, this is a verse I’ve used to stay focused on Him. I realized that by removing scripture from our employee handbook I was removing one of the ways I acknowledge God in my business. I was fearing a lawsuit more than God.
I believe building a business on biblical principles is the ultimate foundation I can provide for my company. Because of this, and because I desire to acknowledge Him in ALL my ways, I want to give Him credit for how I selected the foundational principles of our business. The footnotes are simply giving credit where credit is due.
I am now coming full circle and in the process of adding scripture back in. However, I am consulting with both an HR professional and a Christian lawyer to make sure it’s done in a non-discriminatory, professional, and respectful way. Once we update the handbook I will share our execution of it in a future article.
How have you handled similar situations? How do you approach the use of scripture at work?