Letter to employee who is imposing strong beliefs

Sometimes you come across employees with strong religious or philosophical beliefs. The Equality Act 2010 states that, if their belief is protected, an individual must not be treated less favourably because of it. If employees act offensively, inappropriately, unreasonably or improperly in the workplace due to their strongly-held beliefs, you’ll need to take careful action to curb their behaviour while making sure it doesn’t amount to discrimination.  Use our letter for this purpose.

Defining religion or belief

The Equality Act 2010 protects the rights of employees to practise their religion and beliefs without fear of discrimination. Under the Act, a “religion” means any religion, including a lack of religion, and a “belief” means any religious or philosophical belief, including a lack of belief. Although religion and a religious belief are relatively easy to define, it’s harder to pin down a philosophical belief. Beliefs in ethical veganism, pacifism, humanism, atheism, man-made climate change, gender being immutable, the higher purpose of public service broadcasting and animal rights have all been found to be protected philosophical beliefs in individual cases. 

Discrimination

Discrimination against an employee because of their religion or belief may be direct, such as when an individual is treated less favourably, or indirect, such as when a policy, provision, criterion or practice disadvantages those who hold a religion or belief and it can’t be objectively justified (i.e. it’s not a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate business aim). Discrimination may also take the form of harassment (i.e. when an individual experiences unwanted conduct relating to their religion or belief). However, it’s important to note that an employee’s strongly-held beliefs do not give them the right to discriminate against or harass others, for example, other employees or clients of a different religion or homosexual or trans employees, so there’s a fine balance to be struck where there are competing interests in the workplace.

Managing behaviour

Dealing with an employee with strong beliefs can be tricky as you have to enforce rules on how much, if at all, you’ll allow them to affect what they do in the workplace. At the same time, you must be careful not to breach the Equality Act 2010 by directly or indirectly discriminating against or harassing them. Sending our letter notifies the employee that their behaviour in the workplace is improper, unreasonable or inappropriate and needs to stop, while ensuring you’re not discriminating against them. The important thing is that you don’t place an absolute ban on the employee manifesting their particular religion or beliefs, backed up with a threat of dismissal, as the action that you take needs to be reasonable, proportionate and non-discriminatory. However, there is a clear distinction to be drawn between an employee’s right to hold and manifest their religion or beliefs and their offensive, unreasonable or inappropriate promotion of that religion or those beliefs.