08-07-2025
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued new guidelines regarding religion in federal workplaces. Federal employees may attempt to persuade their co-workers that their religious beliefs are “correct.” In addition, these employees can display office bibles, religious artwork, jewelry, posters displaying religious messages, and other religious symbols, like crosses, crucifixes, and mezuzah. These religious displays should not result in disciplinary or corrective action.
Employees may also gather for communal religious expressions (like prayer groups during non-work time), and employees can have conversations on religious topics, “including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views, provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature.” The EEOC’s 2008 guidance states, “A consensual conversation about religious views, even if quite spirited, does not constitute harassment if it is not unwelcome.” They can suggest that other employees “rethink” their own religious beliefs. Supervisors may also engage in this sharing of religious beliefs with their employees. An employee “may invite another to worship at her church despite belonging to a different faith.” Federal workers may also “encourage their coworkers to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer, to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage coworkers to participate in other personal activities.”
The OPM Director directed department and agency heads to allow personal religious expression “to the greatest extent possible unless such expression would impose an undue hardship on business operations.” Employees should “never have to choose between their faith and their career.” Agencies should not discipline their employees for deciding not to talk to their coworkers about their religious views.