Manifestation Of Religion Or Belief At Work: Guidance For Employers

• Published date: 05 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations, Social Media
• Law Firm: Thomson Snell & Passmore
• Author: Mr Ben Stepney

A case on manifestation of religion and belief in the workplace has recently concluded in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).

The Claimant in this case, Mrs Higgs, was a school administrator and work experience manager at a secondary school with academy status in Gloucestershire.

She was dismissed from the school after some of her social media posts on Facebook relating to relationship education in schools and religion led to complaints from parents.

The case provides some useful guidance on assessing the proportionality of interferences with the freedom of expression, and serves as a reminder to employers to keep an up-to-date social media policy.

Facts of the case

Following her dismissal, Mrs Higgs made a claim in the Employment Tribunal (ET) for direct discrimination because of her protected beliefs, and harassment relating to them.

She argued in the ET that her protected beliefs included a 'lack of belief in gender fluidity' and 'lack of belief in same-sex marriage'. The ET ruled in favour of the School, concluding that Mrs Higgs had been dismissed because the school was concerned that someone reading her Facebook posts could reasonably assume that she held homophobic views, and that she was not dismissed because of or in relation to her protected beliefs.

However, the EAT took the view that there was a sufficiently close connection between the Claimant's conduct and her beliefs, such that the posts constituted manifestations of her beliefs under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (article 9 states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion).

The EAT found that the ET had erred in their findings, and ought to have undertaken a proportionality assessment to determine whether the school's actions in dismissing the Claimant were because of or related to her manifestation of the protected beliefs, or instead because of a justified objection to...