Religion Or Belief

In addition to sex, race and disability it has been unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of religious belief and sexual orientation since December 2003.

Since that time, there have only been 377 religious or belief discrimination claims made to an Employment Tribunal and 410 sexual orientation claims. This is less than 1% of the total claims made to Tribunals. This is probably good news.

However, as you would expect, there have been some daft claims made.

Religion or belief is defined in the regulations as any religion, religious belief or similar philosophical belief. Not a very helpful definition. So what is a similar philosophical belief?

In one case, an active member of the British National Party was refused an interview. He brought a claim that he had been discriminated against on the grounds of his religious belief.

The Tribunal rejected his claim deciding that active membership of the BNP did not amount to a religion or belief for the purpose of the regulations. The Tribunal also ordered the Claimant to pay £1400 towards the employer’s costs on the grounds that his claim had no real chance of succeeding.

In another case, Mr Williams, a US citizen, worked as a train dispatcher for South Central. He stitched a US flag to his reflective jacket in breach of the company rules. He was asked to remove it and refused. Eventually he was dismissed. Mr Williams claimed that he had been discriminated against because he’d “stood up for his beliefs as an American citizen”. His loyalty to his flag amounted to a religious belief he said. His claim was also thrown out.

I am constantly amazed that people are prepared to lose their jobs for such reasons. Why didn’t Mr Williams just take the flag off his jacket?

That being said, there is a serious side to those regulations and employers need to behave responsibly if they are to avoid costly claims.

In one case, a practising Christian was employed as a residential social worker. She made it clear on her job application form and at her interview that she could not work on Sundays because she attended church.

A few months after starting work, she was told that she would have to work on Sunday, or resign.

Not surprisingly she won her claim of discrimination.

The lesson for employers and employees alike – be reasonable.

Published 27/09/2006.