Skip main navigation

Outdated or Unsupported Browser Detected
DWD's website uses the latest technology. This makes our site faster and easier to use across all devices. Unfortunatley, your browser is out of date and is not supported. An update is not required, but it is strongly recommended to improve your browsing experience. To update Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge visit their website.

126.1 General coverage

The Complainant’s system of beliefs about labor unions was not part of his religious creed of Lutheranism and was not itself a creed under the WFEA, but rather a system of philosophical, social and political values held by the Complainant apart from his Lutheran religious views. Leal v. Int’l United Auto Workers (LIRC, 03/19/15); aff’d, Leal v. LIRC (Fond du Lac Co. Cir. Ct., 01/05/15).

An employee’s burden of demonstrating the sincerity of a belief system is not a heavy one. The fact that an employee’s religious belief does not directly correspond to that of a particular Christian denomination with which the employee is associated is not a basis for finding that her belief is either not religious or not sincere. Marquardt v. Wal-Mart Stores (LIRC, 06/14/93).

The fact that an employee initially accepted an employer’s offer to work one Sunday out of four per month did not show that her belief in not working on Sunday was not a sincerely held religious belief, where the employee has studiously abstained from working on Sunday since 1978 and she only agreed to work on Sunday because she was under considerable pressure to find employment and obtain new housing. Marquardt v. Wal-Mart Stores (LIRC, 06/14/93).

Sec. 111.31(3m), Stats., defines creed as “a system of religious beliefs, including moral or ethical beliefs about right and wrong, that are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.” Where there was evidence in the record regarding the Complainant’s beliefs as to a supreme being, moral imperatives governing conduct towards others, and ceremonies and observances, the Complainant demonstrated that her adherence to WICCA is a creed subject to the protection of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act. Catley v. Benjamin Air Rifle Co. (LIRC, 06/21/91).

The term “creed” is not defined in the Act, but should be interpreted to refer to a “system of religious beliefs.” AMC v. DILHR (Bartell), 101 Wis. 2d 337, 305 N.W.2d 690 (1981).

The term “creed,” as used in the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, means not a system of political philosophy or beliefs, but a system of religious beliefs. Augustine v. Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, 75 Wis. 2d 207, 249 N.W.2d 547 (1977).

The refusal to hire a member of the Ku Klux Klan did not constitute discrimination based on “creed” because that term does not mean a system of political philosophy or beliefs. Health v. West Cap (LIRC, 08/03/77).