Employee Loses Religious Discrimination Case

by Katy Murcutt - Paralegal

18 February 2010, filed under Employment

A female British Airways employee who claimed the company’s rule against wearing a neck adornment discriminated against her Christian beliefs lost her case this week. Nadia Eweida appealed to the Court of Appeal against an earlier Employment Appeals Tribunal decision.

In 2004 British Airways updated its uniform from a high-necked blouse to an open style and began to operate a policy to ban neck jewellery of any kind. Ms Eweida sometimes wore to work a necklace bearing the cross around her neck to symbolise her Christian faith. Although the necklace had previously been unseen underneath the nigh-necked blouse, it was clearly visible with the wearing of the new uniform. Ms Eweida was requested to conceal the religious symbol on a number of occasions, but subsequently refused to do so in September 2006, after which she was sent home and did not work for several months.

Ms Eweida returned to her employment with British Airways in February 2007, by which time the airline company had changed its’ uniform policy to permit the wearing of religious and charity symbols.

The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 operate to prohibit any policy that disadvantages an employee at work because of their religious beliefs without their being a justifiable reasoning for the particular policy.

The Court of Appeal stated that there had been some confusion as to what the case concerned in the light of the publicity the case had received.

The allegations made by Ms Edweida were rejected by the Employment Appeals Tribunal and subsequently rejected by the Court of Appeal on the basis that the wearing of the cross was not equal to the wearing of religion-specific clothing.  Ms Edweida had not previously sought a reversion of British Airways uniform policy, but had instead continued to breach the uniform policy by reporting for her work duties knowingly in breach of that policy. This issue had not been raised by any other workers of the Christian faith and the non-wearing of the cross would not prevent her observance of the religion.

The Christian Fellowship stated at the Employment Appeals Tribunal, “It is not the wearing of (the cross) that should determine our behaviour.”