November 11, 1997
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."
NATHAN J. DIAMENT Director, Institute for Public Affairs, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
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