Religion and Work

According to an article in the latest Recruiter magazine, “Christians cannot claim their religious beliefs prevent them from working on Sundays, according to a test case ruling by an industrial tribunal”. In this case, an employee lost the right to claim he had been unfairly dismissed when he refused to work on Sundays, saying he was a devout Christian and therefore unable to work on the Sabbath.

The case was tried under the Human Rights Act, and may be taken to appeal in the high courts. The article also mentions that “legal experts say that if Christian workers were ever to succeed in their appeal, then the floodgates would be opened for claims from other religious denominations – with Muslims, for example, demanding Fridays off every week and Jews asking not to work on Saturdays.”

[written 2003]