Religious or Philosophical Belief Discrimination
All reasonable people would agree that discrimination is a bad thing (to say the least), and equality law is in place to protect the individuals who are most likely to suffer from it.
We’re employment lawyers who act for employees throughout the UK. Do get in touch if you’ve been discriminated against at work because of a protected characteristic or anything else.
Equality Act 2010
You might know of the Equality Act 2010, which is designed to protect people with certain characteristics. Those include:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage or civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
Religion or belief
Looking more closely at the ‘religion or belief’ characteristic, this includes:
- Any religious belief
- Any philosophical belief
- A lack of belief
Protection from discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief was introduced in 2003 and subsequently included in the Equality Act.
You are protected if someone discriminates against you because they think you are a certain religion, when you are not. For example, it’s against the law for someone to discriminate against you for wearing a headscarf because they think you are a Muslim, even if you are not actually Muslim.
Which religious beliefs are protected?
Religious beliefs are relatively easy to define. You’ll know about the mainstream organised religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as less-mainstream religions including Rastafarianism and Scientology.
Non-belief is also protected, commonly known as Atheism. The literal meaning of the word theism is “God” – that is, a creator who intervenes in the universe. So atheism is a “lack of belief in a God or Gods”.
Agnosticism is different from Atheism, in that someone who is Agnostic believes it’s impossible to know either way.
What makes a belief a ‘philosophical’ belief?
Philosophy relates to the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. So your personal beliefs about how the world works may be covered by the Act.
To determine whether a philosophical belief should be protected, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has set out a list of criteria:
- It must be a genuinely held belief, not a temporary opinion or viewpoint
- It must relate to a substantial aspect of human life and behaviour
- It must attain a certain level of seriousness, cohesion and importance
- It must be worthy of respect in democratic society
- It must not be incompatible with human dignity or the fundamental rights of others
- It must have similar status to a religious belief
- It may be a political philosophy or doctrine
- It may be based on science
- It need not be shared by others
Which philosophical beliefs are protected?
There have been cases in recent years where the following philosophical beliefs have been found to be covered by the Act. Some may surprise you more than others:
- Scottish Independence
- Democratic socialism
- Participatory democracy
- Environmentalism and climate change
- Anti fox-hunting
- Ethical veganism
- Public service is for the common good
- Lying is always wrong
- Mediums can communicate with the dead
Which philosophical beliefs are NOT protected?
Here are some examples of cases where the person’s philosophical belief was found NOT to meet the criteria for protection in law:
- Membership of the BNP
- Marxism/Trotskyism
- 9/11 and 7/7 were ‘false flag’ operations
- Poppies should be worn in early November
- The holocaust didn’t happen
- Jews are God’s chosen people
- Homosexuality is contrary to God’s law
Case study: Religious or Philosophical Belief Discrimination
To give an example of how complicated this subject can be (and to show why getting expert legal advice is so important), you might be interested to know about the case of Forstater v CGD Europe and others.
Maya Forstater’s contract was not renewed by her employer, because she had tweeted content expressing her belief that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that people couldn’t change from one to another. Her colleagues complained that her tweets were transphobic.
At the Employment Tribunal, she argued that her views amount to a philosophical belief and should therefore be protected under the Equality Act.
She lost her initial case but took it to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. They found that her opinions should indeed be protected as a philosophical belief.
This does not mean anyone can say whatever they want at work when it offends a transperson. There is a balance between the legal right to freedom of expression and the legal right to be protected from discrimination.
There are various types of religious and philosophical belief discrimination, as explained below.
Direct Discrimination
It is discrimination to treat you unfairly compared to someone else, because of your religion or belief. This is called direct discrimination and is illegal. Examples include:
- Dismissing you from work because you’re Muslim
- Refusing to hire you because they are Jewish
- Not promoting you because you are a Catholic
Indirect Discrimination
It is also illegal for someone to have a rule, policy or practice which someone of a particular religion or belief is less likely to be able to meet than other people and this places them at a disadvantage. If you have suffered indirect discrimination because of your religion or belief, you may be able to make a complaint about it.
However, if the person or organisation you are complaining about can show there are genuine reasons for the rule, policy or practice and that it has nothing to do with your religion or belief, this won’t count as discrimination.
Examples of indirect discrimination might include:
- Requiring all employees to dress in a particular way if this means they can’t wear an item of clothing they regard as part of their faith
- Requiring all employees to work particular days of the week even if it contravenes a teaching of the faith
Harassment
This relates to unwanted conduct related to religious belief which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.
For example:
Placing offensive images/cartoons on the staff noticeboard depicting a religious figure in a degrading manner.
Victimisation
Discrimination can take the form of victimisation. This is where you’re treated worse than someone else because you’ve complained or taken action about religious discrimination.
It is also victimisation if you’re treated unfairly because you’ve supported someone else taking action, for example, if you act as a witness in someone else’s discrimination case.
For example:
You are denied the opportunity to access further training because you pursued a grievance against your boss for religious discrimination.
Make an Enquiry Now: Religious or Philosophical Belief Discrimination
To make a free enquiry based on any of the issues raised on this page please contact us on 0808 168 7288, or complete the online contact form at the top right of this page.