Personal Religious Beliefs in the Workplace: How Not to Define Indirect Discrimination

In cases concerning indirect religious discrimination the claimant must demonstrate that an otherwise neutral measure has caused her to suffer a particular disadvantage because of her religion. In Eweida v British Airways the Court of Appeal held that personal religious beliefs which are not part of official religious dogma cannot be relied upon as the basis for a claim of indirect discrimination. I discuss, first, the reasoning of the Court of Appeal in Eweida ; then I examine the way personal religious beliefs have been treated in other cases in Britain and in the United States; finally, I place the issue in a wider human rights framework.