Is promoting faith in the workplace a no-go area? asks Charles Pigott
Up to now, decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1660) have tended to focus either on dress codes, or on a clash between orthodox Christian and secular attitudes to homosexuality. Chondol v Liverpool City Council UKEAT/0298/08, [2009] All ER (D) 155 (Feb) is the first case at appellate level to touch on the broader question of whether the regulations confer any protection on employees who express their religious views in the workplace without overtly attacking other people's beliefs or values.
A social worker in Liverpool
Mr Chondol was a social worker against whom disciplinary proceedings were brought on a number of grounds. The main group of charges related to his failure to adhere to the council's guidelines about safety and the need for professional boundaries. But it was also alleged that he had been guilty of “inappropriate promotion” of his religious beliefs. In the end the council accepted that what he had done was give a service
