Harassment for someone else’s religion

Case 8: The facts

Mr Saini worked at an advice centre. Both he and his manager were of the Hindu religion. He resigned from his job, claiming that he had been bullied as a way of gathering evidence against his manager. He believed his employer’s motive was to get rid of his manager on religious grounds. The employment tribunal agreed that he was harassed on grounds of his manager’s religion (as opposed to his own). It thought that harassment on grounds of someone else’s religion was not covered by the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003, though it did find unfair and wrongful dismissal. Saini appealed.

The ruling

The EAT upheld the appeal and substituted a finding of harassment under regulation 5(1)(b) of the 2003 Regulations. In doing so, it noted that the Equal Treatment Framework Directive, (EC/2000/78) covers discrimination against someone on grounds of someone else’s religion or belief. Therefore, if an employee establishes that he has been subjected to harassment under regulation 5(1)(b) because of his employer pursuing a discriminatory policy against the religious beliefs held by another employee, that will be enough.