Religious Freedom, Religious Discrimination and the Workplace

Abstract

In this interesting and valuable addition to the literature, Lucy Vickers aims to identify the philosophical basis for protecting religious interests at work and then to test existing legal provisions—protection under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 9 and the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (Religion or Belief Regs)—against the model developed. The result is a thoughtful and wide-ranging survey, enhanced by a useful section on comparison with other jurisdictions. It is increasingly recognized that protection of religion or belief in the workplace involves particularly complex issues. In part this is because, alone of the grounds protected under the equality enactments, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is recognised as a free-standing human right under the ECHR. Vickers sets herself the task of exploring this interface between the positive right and the negative protection from discrimination at work throughout this book. Complexity also...