Section 12-46-157 - Undue hardship(a) The employer or other covered entity has the burden of proving that an undue hardship renders unreasonable the required accommodations to the religious needs of the individual.(b) An employer may assert undue hardship to justify a refusal to accommodate an employee's need to be absent from his or her scheduled duty hours if the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would require more than minimum cost. What constitutes minimum cost shall be determined with due regard given to the identifiable cost in relation to the size and operating cost of the employer, and the number of individuals who will in fact need a particular accommodation. For example, costs, such as regular payment of premium wages for substitutes, would constitute undue hardship; however, the infrequent payment of premium wages for a substitute or the payment of premium wages while a more permanent accommodation is being sought are costs of providing a reasonable accommodation. Generally, the payment of administrative costs necessary for providing the accommodation will not constitute more than a minimum of cost. Administrative costs, for example, include those costs involved in rearranging schedules and recording substitutions for payroll purposes.(c) Undue hardship would also be shown where a variance from a bona fide seniority system is necessary in order to accommodate an employee's religious practices and when doing so would deny another employee a job or shift preference guaranteed by that system. Arrangements for voluntary substitutes and swaps do not constitute undue hardship to the extent the arrangements do not violate a bona fide seniority system. Nothing in chapter 378, HRS, or this subchapter precludes an employer and a union from including arrangements for voluntary substitutes and swaps as part of a collective bargaining agreement.[Eff 12/31/90] (Auth: HRS §§ 368-3, 378-8) (Imp: HRS §§ 368-3, 378-2)