The standard practice at many workplaces has long been for employees to refrain from expressing their religious beliefs in the workplace, especially toward co-workers and customers. However, new guidance from the Trump administration is designed to ensure that employees are free to do just the opposite.
On July 28, 2025, the United States Office of Personnel Management issued a detailed Memorandum entitled “Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace,” which states that “President Trump is committed to reaffirming America’s unique and beautiful tradition of religious liberty.” The Memorandum details steps that federal agencies must take to allow personal religious expression in the workplace.
It explains that employees must be permitted to engage in a broad range of religion-related behavior at work, regardless of whether that behavior is unwelcome or offensive to those around them. The Memorandum includes a detailed list of the types of protected religious expression in the workplace, including the following:
- During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should rethink his religious beliefs.
- On a bulletin board meant for personal announcements, a supervisor may post a handwritten note inviting each of his employees to attend an Easter service at his church.
- A doctor at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital may pray over his patient for her recovery.
- A security guard stationed at the front desk of a federal office building may display and use a crucifix, Bible, or rosary beads.
- A receptionist in a doctor’s office at a VA Medical Center may pray with a coworker in the patients’ waiting area.
The July 28 OPM Memorandum applies only to federal workers, but this and other recent policy statements by the Trump administration have clearly signaled an intention to focus on the protection of religious rights. Employers should exercise significant caution before restricting religion-related behavior by employees anywhere in the workplace.
