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Last week the Court of Appeal confirmed that Christian hotel owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull discriminated against civil partners Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall by refusing to allow them to share a double bed in 2008.
At their hotel in Cornwall Mr and Mrs Bull had operated a strict policy refusing double bedrooms to unmarried couples. In January 2011 the hotel owners were ordered to pay £3,600 in
Blog Article | Last updated: 13/02/2012 11:57:00
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The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) prohibits discrimination in the workplace because of religion or belief. Guidance from case law states that a belief must:
be a belief, not an opinion;
be genuinely held;
be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour;
attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; an
Blog Article | Last updated: 09/11/2011 13:02:00
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In a judgement passed on 4 March 2011 in Hashman v MiltonPark (Dorset) Ltd t/a Orchard Park, an employment Tribunal held that a beliefin the sanctity of life, extending to a fervent anti-fox hunting belief,constituted a philosophical belief for the purposes of the Religion or BeliefRegulations (now enshrined in the Equality Act 2010).
However, the Tribunal stressed that its decision was
Blog Article | Last updated: 07/10/2011 14:30:00
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Over the past few months, Buddy has blogged about beliefs in combating climate change and banning fox hunting being deemed philosophical beliefs by the Tribunals and so warranting protection under anti discrimination legislation. This week a Claimant has tried to persuade the Tribunal that her belief in "consensual slavery" should be given the same status.
The Claimant, a former North and East Herts Health Authority midwife, claimed that she had been dismissed for wearing an emblem of her belief in BDSM (bondage, discipline, sado-masochistic) in the form of a silver collar. She argued that her lifestyle constituted a genuine philosophical belief. This was disputed by her former employer, who disputed both that her belief should be protected under the legislation and also argued that if it was the PCP of banning her from wearing the collar was justified as a health and safety concern.
Blog Article | Last updated: 16/08/2011 17:10:00
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As we are now over half way through 2011, we take a look back at some of our favourite cases so far this year. It's perhaps a sign of the times that these involve redundancies, company administrations, and the use of social media as well as tricky questions of a philosophical nature..
News Article | Last updated: 03/08/2011 15:04:00
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission is seeking to intervene in four cases being heard by the European Court of Human rights involving religious discrimination in the workplace.
If given permission to intervene, the Commission will argue that the way in which judges are interpreting anti-discrimination legislation in the UK is insufficient to protect freedom of religion or belief.
According to the Commission, the courts have set the bar too high from someone to prove that they have been discriminated against because of religion or belief. The Commission is seeking to establish that it is possible to accommodate expression of religion alongside the rights of non-religious people and the needs of businesses. The Commission is also critical of what it perceives to be a growing body of confusing and contradictory case law, making it difficult for employers to know what they should be doing to protect people from discrimination related to religion or belief.
The Commission is calling for clearer legal principles to help the courts decide what is and is not justifiable in religion or belief cases, and is proposing the idea of "reasonable accommodations" that will help employers manage how they allow people to manifest their religion or belief.
John Wadham, Group Director of Legal at the Commission, says, "The idea of making reasonable adjustments to accommodate a person's needs has served disability discrimination law well for decades. It seems reasonable that a similar concept could be adopted to allow someone to manifest their religious beliefs."
Blog Article | Last updated: 18/07/2011 12:12:00
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An employee has failed to convince a Tribunal that his belief that the US and UK Governments were behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 7/7 amount to a "philosophical belief"
Blog Article | Last updated: 18/07/2011 10:16:00
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In Chatwal v Wandsworth Borough Council (2011), the EAT considered whether the requirement for staff to clean a communal fridge as a condition of its use amounted to indirect religious discrimination.
Blog Article | Last updated: 18/07/2011 10:05:00
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The BBC reported dozens of stickers circulated around gay pubs in Shoreditch and outside a Whitechapel school, consisting of numerous homophobic messages (‘Gay Free Zone`) and a reference to the Islamic Koran to support it.
The implications f
Blog Article | Last updated: 23/02/2011 14:22:00
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Former garden centre employee, Joe Hashman, thinks so and has sought to persuade the Employment Tribunal that it is. Mr Hashman alleges he was dismissed from employment in September 2009 a day after covert video footage he filmed helped convict c
Blog Article | Last updated: 02/02/2011 16:09:00
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