Religion or Belief Discrimination

In recent years anti-discrimination legislation has been widened to include poorly treating or, indeed, favouring, a person on the grounds of their religion or belief, regardless of what those beliefs are. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations went through Parliament in 2003, came into force in December of that year, and are intended to protect schoolchildren and students as well as people in the workplace. There isn't a list of religions that are to be tolerated, the field has been deliberately left wide open so as to include any belief systems that might come into vogue in the future.

Indirect and Direct Discrimination

As with other forms of discrimination, the legislation covers direct and indirect action, whether it's positive or negative, as well as victimisation and harassment. Direct discrimination is the deliberate treatment of somebody of a particular religion in a particular way, for example failing to promote them, whereas indirect action is making rules that would disadvantage someone of a particular religion, for example banning cloth headwear on health and safety grounds, which would discriminate against certain practising Muslims, Jews or Sikhs. Or it could be that there is always a particular regular meeting on Friday afternoons, which may indirectly discriminate against some practising Jews and Muslims, in the same way that enforced Sunday working would offend strict Christians.

Victimisation and harassment are obviously banned too, which includes being made fun of at a work social event, it doesn't have to be while people are working and it doesn't even need to be on work premises, if the event is organised by the company or perhaps a social club supported by the company.

Positive Action

These laws put the onus on employers to take active steps to make sure that discrimination on these grounds (or any other grounds) isn't happening; it's not enough for employers to do nothing and to be able to say that they had no idea there was any discrimination going on.

Companies must educate employees to be aware of the ramifications of these regulations and monitor situations to ensure that everything is above board. This can cause problem when there is a crossover with personal privacy, as some people may not want their religious views to be made known.

One particular point for employers is that to the need for certain religions to have different holidays or certain times of the week off to practise their faith. Companies should take steps to allow people to observe the obligations of their faith, although they cannot be forced to do so. There is also an onus on workers to give managers reasonable notice of the dates and times and make sure that arrangements can be made to ensure the business does not suffer.

Exemption

There are, as with many of the other forms of discrimination, certain special cases where an exemption from the regulations may be made. An example might be where a Roman Catholic school is looking for someone to look after Religious Education, or if a particular faith is at the core of an organisation's reason for existence, such as a charity providing support to a particular religious group.

The key is that there has to be a genuine need for someone to be of a particular faith, either because of the nature of the organisation or the post advertised. This exemption can be applied in the other direction too, in that an employer may choose not to employ someone if they believe they do not meet the religious need.

Take Further Action

Along with all the other anti-discriminatory legislation in the United Kingdom at the moment, those covering religion and belief do not only cover the people being discriminated against, but also those who witness it. Whether you are a witness or a victim, the law applies in the same way and details of steps to take to resolve a situation are covered in our 'Taking Action' article.

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