The law protects employees against discrimination on various protected grounds, which include “religion or belief”. Religion is defined as any religion; it can also include a lack of religion, which means that it is equally unlawful to discriminate against a person because they do not follow a particular religion as to discriminate against them because they do.

Belief is defined as any religious or philosophical belief. It must be genuinely held, be worthy of respect in a democratic society and should not be incompatible with human dignity or conflict with the fundamental rights of others. Again, it can include a lack of belief. Examples that the Employment Tribunals have confirmed to be capable of amounting to a belief include climate change, anti-fox hunting and a belief that mediums can communicate with the dead. However, a belief that a poppy should be worn in November and membership of the BNP have been confirmed as not capable of amounting to a belief for employment law purposes.

When it comes to holidays, public holidays in the UK take account of Christian festivals and some employers operate a Christmas shutdown period. This can create problems for employees who do not follow Christian faith and would like to take their annual leave at other times of the year.

As a general rule, employers may require employees to take their holiday leave at certain times of year e.g. for public holidays and Christmas shutdown (provided that the contract of employment/holiday policy provides for this). However, employers may wish to consider whether they are able to accommodate the interests of those employees who may wish to take their holiday leave at different times. This may be difficult to do where there is a complete shutdown, but where there is only a partial shutdown it may be possible for employees to pick up alternative duties for the period of the shutdown in order to preserve their holiday entitlement.

Where employees request holiday leave to coincide with religious festivals or occasions, employers should seek to accommodate the request provided that it is reasonable for the employee to be absent from work during the period requested – this is likely to depend to some extent on the size of the employer’s organisation and the nature of the work carried out.

Finally, some employees may require time off during the day to pray or attend prayers. Employers are not legally obliged to provide employees with facilities for religious observance or time off to pray, however, employers should seek to accommodate reasonable requests for breaks for religious observance where it is reasonable to do so.

Where an employer imposes a policy or rule on employees in relation to holiday leave or break times that could put employees of a particular religion or belief at a disadvantage there is a risk that a claim for indirect discrimination may be made. In order to successfully defend such a claim the employer will need to show that the policy or rule was proportionate and necessary to achieve a legitimate aim. This will require the employer to justify the policy or rule in the context of the needs of the business.

Eaton Smith would be happy to provide further guidance on the above issues. Please contact Kate Booth on 01484 821309 or at katebooth@eatonsmith.co.uk
Posted Tuesday 29th of May 2012