Keeping the Faith

Employers should review their policies to check they are not discriminating against religious employees. This is due to an increase in the number of faith-related Employment Tribunals. Employers should ensure that their policies do not "directly or indirectly discriminate against staff holding particular beliefs".

Religious discrimination cases went up from 486 from the 12 months to April 2006 to 600 to April 2008. This increase could be caused by confusion amongst employers. The Chartered Management Institute report states that, for example, two-thirds of employers admit to uncertainty about the faith days celebrated by staff and only 1 in 3 organisations have an explicit policy on religion and belief issues. As a result, the CMI's new guide, called ‘Religion and belief in the workplace’, aims to inform employers about different religious beliefs.

With the rise in tribunals, religion and belief issues are coming under increasing scrutiny, so the guide explores whether religion should be brought into the workplace. It also provides a brief overview of the law and discusses the business case for taking account of religion as well as the range of issues policies should cover, such as prayer time and Holy Days or festivals.

The new CMI follow the cases of a nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient and the school secretary facing the sack after her daughter spoke about Jesus in the classroom. The incidents have heightened fears among Christians that they cannot go public with their faith at work. Employers must educate themselves about religious discrimination law and make "reasonable changes" to their companies' procedures, according to the CMI.

Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported nurse Caroline Petrie in her successful case against North Somerset Primary Care Trust over Petrie’s suspension for offering to pray for an elderly patient, gave the new guidelines a guarded welcome.

“Recent cases against Christians have shown that sometimes a well-meaning desire for equality and inclusion can have the exact opposite effect, by discriminating against those who hold to the Christian faith,” she claims. “These are key issues going to the heart of our rights, and we must have a debate around them.”

Last week it emerged that school secretary, Jennie Cain, may lose her job after emailing ten Christian friends asking them to pray for her daughter, who had been reprimanded by teachers at the school where she worked. The five-year-old was taken aside for discussing heaven and religion with a friend.

"There have been several well-publicised incidents recently which have bought issues of belief in the workplace to greater prominence,” said the CMI’s Jo Causon. "Employers need to know the law and work within it, but they also need to manage relationships to ensure organisations and their employees can thrive. It is unacceptable to discriminate on the basis of religion, belief or any other form of discrimination."