Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: Labor law and Religon

Classic lawyer answer here; that depends.

When the employer was notified, did the employer agree, or simply receive notice? If the employer agreed, there may be an argument that there was a verbal contract made. If you simply told the employer and they made no commitment regarding the time, no verbal agreement.

Beyond that, employers covered by the Washington Law Against Discrimination must make "reasonable accommodation" to your religious requirements. If the employer had eight or more employees, the employer is probably covered by WLAD. If not, no requirement to accommodate. Next, accommodation must be reasonable. To determine whether your time off requirement was reasonable, I would need to know how much time off you needed, what sort of arrangements the employer would need to make to cover for you, and so forth. If you wanted one day off for a religious observance, ten other people at your workplace do the same job you do, and you are willing to use vacation time (if any is provided) for the time, I think it would be impossible to argue that is not reasonable. If you are the only one at your workplace who can do your job and you needed to take six months off, that is probably not reasonable.

I hope that helps give you a general idea. More than likely you are not at one of the above extremes, and if questions still remain, you may want to consult with an employment law attorney.