Discrimination; religion; a registrar refusing to conduct civil partnerships for religious reasons was lawfully disciplined.
Religion and belief; the five criteria for a protected philosophical belief: (1) genuinely held; (2) a belief, not an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information; (3) concerning a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour; (4) attaining a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; (5) worthy of respect in a democratic society, not incompatible with human dignity and not in conflict with the fundamental rights of others. A belief in man-made climate change was capable of protection.
Human Rights; religion; the right to manifest religion (wearing a cross) was violated by BA's uniform policy.
Religion or belief; harassment; proselytizing; disciplining a Christian employee for imposing her religious views on a junior Muslim colleague was not discrimination; it was a proportionate response to blurring professional boundaries.
Direct discrimination; the bakery's refusal to supply a cake iced with a message supporting same-sex marriage was not sexual orientation discrimination: the objection was to the message, not the messenger. Nobody can be compelled by law to express a message with which they profoundly disagree.
Belief Discrimination; gender-critical beliefs (that sex is immutable) are protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010.
EWCA Civ 255 - Discrimination; religion; removal of a magistrate for media comments against same-sex adoption was lawful.
Discrimination; belief; 'gender critical' beliefs (that sex is immutable) are protected philosophical beliefs.
Discrimination; distinguishing between protected beliefs and the objection to the *manner* of manifesting them.
Belief Discrimination; proportionality; dismissal of a school administrator for Facebook posts critical of gender identity teaching was disproportionate; the manner of expressing a belief can be separated from the belief itself but must be assessed proportionately.
Religion or belief discrimination; manifestation. A descriptive belief cannot be a manifestation of a normative belief. The claimant relied on a normative 'treatment belief' (all people should be treated the same regardless of colour or culture), conceded by the respondent to be protected under s.10 EqA, and argued that his rejection of systemic racism was a manifestation of it. HHJ Auerbach held the two were categorically different: the treatment belief concerns what ought to be, the no-systemic-racism belief what is. A person holding the treatment belief could equally believe systemic racism does exist, so there was no sufficiently close and direct nexus and nothing 'intimately linked' under Eweida. The ET majority's contrary finding rested on a description of systemic racism theory that did not match its own earlier definition. Causation findings separately flawed; direct race discrimination finding perverse for want of specific facts capable of shifting the burden. All four complaints dismissed by substitution under Jafri; the 3,750 pound injury to feelings award quashed. Postscript: written reasons should record the minority's reasoning and identify who formed the majority.
Religion or belief discrimination; 'reason why' test; Court of Appeal dismisses application under CPR 52.30 to reopen refusal of permission to appeal; the 'reason why' each contract was terminated was the commercial and reputational consequences of a social media storm, not the claimant's religious beliefs or their manifestation; distinguished from Higgs where 'reason why' was not in dispute and proportionality was the issue.
Religion & Belief; school chaplain dismissed for sermon on LGBT issues found to be fair; balancing belief and employer ethos.
Race discrimination; an employer can criticise an employee's conduct (e.g. promoting religion) without discriminating on grounds of belief.