Religion or Belief Discrimination at Work

In recent years, anti-discrimination legislation has been widened to include poorly treating or favouring a person on the grounds of their religion or belief, regardless of what those beliefs are. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations came into force in December 2003 and are intended to protect schoolchildren, students, and people in the workplace. There isn't a list of religions that are to be tolerated, and 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 someone because of their religion, whereas indirect action is making rules that would disadvantage someone of a particular religion, such as banning religious headwear on Health And Safety Grounds, which would discriminate against certain practising Muslims, Jews or Sikhs. It could also 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 at work social events, and any event that is organised 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. 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 problems when there is a crossover with personal privacy, as some people may not want their religious views to be made known.

Some religions need to have different holidays or certain times of the week off to practise their faith, so companies should take steps to allow people to observe the obligations of their faith. It is the responsibility of 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 from Regulations

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 Religious Education teacher, 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 UK, those covering religion and belief do not only apply to 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 Against Discrimination article.