Fair Employment Act: Religious discrimination inferred from selection process

A selection process which favoured applicants closely connected to a group whose religious make-up was almost exclusively Protestant raised a presumption of religious discrimination, holds the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in Belfast Port Employers' Association v Fair Employment Commission for Northern Ireland. The Court allows an appeal against the decision of a county court judge who failed to draw the necessary inference of discrimination after rejecting as unsatisfactory the employer's explanation that selection was based on merit.