An employer that dismissed a counsellor after he refused to give advice to same-sex couples did not discriminate against him because of his religious beliefs, confirms the Employment Appeal Tribunal in McFarlane v Relate Avon Ltd [subscription required].
In a decision that is in line with the previous case law on this issue (particularly London Borough of Islington v Ladele and Liberty [2009] IRLR 154 EAT [subscription required to access the individual reports]), the EAT said that:
- the employer's actions weren't direct religious discrimination because the reason why the counsellor was dismissed was his unwillingness to provide counselling to same-sex couples, not his Christian faith;
- the employer's actions weren't indirect religious discrimination as employers that are committed to providing the full range of its services to all members of a community (whatever their sexual orientation) may insist on all staff participating in the services in question, even when this might conflict with employees' religious beliefs.
It's worth noting that the Court of Appeal has already heard an appeal in the Ladele case, which is expected to be given before the end of 2009 (on the Pink News website). The parties in the McFarlane case declined the opportunity to have their hearing stayed until the outcome of that appeal.
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