Occupational Requirements for Religious Reasons

In the main, employers know that it’s not lawful to discriminate on religious grounds, either during employment or when recruiting. 

Employers need to be mindful for the fact that they are not allowed to treat someone less favourably on the grounds of religion (which includes not treating members of one religion more favourably than everyone else), and should make adjustments where possible to accommodate religious requirements, in areas such as dress code, working hours or other working practices. This also includes treating someone less favourably because they do not have a religion.

The exception - Occupational requirements

In some cases, an employer may be able to prove an applicant needs a certain protected characteristic (in this case, a person's religion) to do a particular job. This is known as an 'occupational requirement'. 

For it to be an occupational requirement, both of the following must also apply:

• the protected characteristic is essential for and relates to the main tasks of the job

• the employer can prove it has a good business reason ('objective justification')

With religion as the focused protected characteristic, an occupational requirement means it must be genuinely and justifiably necessary for the individual(s) fulfilling the role to be of a certain religion, or to follow a certain set of beliefs. It would therefore generally be difficult to justify someone in, for example, an administrative position to be of a certain religion, but in a role where religious guidance was fundamental or mandatory, it might be a genuine requirement.

The law states that the requirement must also be a proportionate means to achieve what is termed a 'legitimate aim'. This means that even if, for example, there is a legitimate business aim that certain tasks within a role must be performed by someone of the specified religion, the employer must be able to show that requiring the person fulfilling the role to be of the religion is proportionate in the circumstances. This is where a lot of businesses may fall foul of the law as if those tasks could be easily carried out by someone not meeting the religious requirement, then specifying religion may not be considered proportionate.

What is important to note is that there is also a slightly wider exception for organisations which have a particular ethos based on a religion or set of beliefs (e.g. schools, charities, etc.). For such organisations it may not be necessary to demonstrate that the particular tasks being carried out by the person need to be performed by someone of a particular religion. Instead the organisation could demonstrate that following a set of beliefs is necessary in the context of the work and of the organisation. 

For more information or to speak with Roy Magara,  a specialist employment lawyer at Magara Law, please call 01869 325 883 or email roy@magaralaw.co.uk. Magara law is an employment law firm based in Bicester, Banbury and Paddington, London, and services clients nationwide.