How Should an Employer Accommodate Religion in the Workplace in England and Wales?

There are many different religions practised in England and Wales, as well as many other religious beliefs. There are also people who have no faith or religious beliefs. Therefore, as an employer in England and Wales, you should be aware of this and embrace the potential diversity of your workforce. More significantly, you have a legal duty not to discriminate against a person based on their religion or belief. Likewise, you have a duty to ensure that your staff do not harass each other for religious reasons or due to an employee’s religion. Not carrying out your legal obligation concerning religion in the workplace could mean you risk facing a discrimination claim.

You should also recognise and support your staff regarding their faiths and beliefs. Recognising and supporting your staff regarding their religious beliefs will help you carry out your legal requirements. It will also help to welcome different religions and beliefs in your workplace and potentially ensure good staff morale. This article will explain how an employer should accommodate religion and belief in the workplace in England and Wales. It will explain your legal requirements and give you examples of how you can accommodate religion in your workplace.

What is My Duty to Those in the Workplace Who Are Religious?

As an employer, you are under a legal obligation to accommodate your employee’s religious practices in the workplace. This includes:

• not carrying out religious discrimination;
• upholding your duty to recognise and support your staff’s religions and beliefs; and
• ensuring that your staff do not harass each other based on religion, as this is illegal.

What is Religious Discrimination?

Discrimination is where a person mistreats another based on one of the legal characteristics known as ‘protected characteristics’. It is against the law to discriminate against another based on one of the protected characteristics. 

Religion or belief is one such protected characteristic. Therefore, you must not discriminate against another person on this basis. Importantly, it does not matter:

• what your employee’s religious beliefs are;
• whether the belief is religious or philosophical; or 
• whether the person does not have a religion or belief. 

Mistreating another person can happen both as direct and indirect discrimination and through harassment or victimisation. Direct discrimination is when you treat a person less fairly based on their protected characteristics. For example, when you do not offer a promotion based on their religion. 

Indirect discrimination is where you act in a way that makes things less fair for a religious person. For example, if you ask your staff not to have beards as part of the dress code but some staff members must have a beard due to their religion. Indirect discrimination is only lawful where you can justify a clear business reason for it. For example, an apparent business reason might be a health and safety reason.

How Can an Employer Accommodate Religion in the Workplace?

There are many ways that you can accommodate religion in the workplace. Here are some key ways in which you can do so.

1. Create an Inclusion and Diversity Policy

There is no legal requirement to have this policy in place, but it is good practice to have one in your workplace. It could also be helpful if someone claims discrimination against your workplace. Indeed, a thorough inclusion and diversity policy can show you have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that discrimination such as religious discrimination does not occur in your workplace. 

A policy can also encourage staff to treat each other fairly and understand that they must not discriminate or harass others based on religious reasons or beliefs. You can also use a policy to inform staff on how to report religious discrimination or harassment and the consequences of committing discrimination. Likewise, an inclusion and diversity policy could explain how staff can request, for example, a religious observance of an employee’s religious beliefs. 

2. Display Various Religious Holidays Within a Shared Workspace Calendar

Displaying religious holidays within a shared workplace calendar can educate your employees about different religions and when they are celebrated. It also demonstrates that you support religious beliefs in the workplace. It may encourage your staff to feel confident about asking for time off to celebrate their religion or belief. You may also choose to talk about religion and religious beliefs at work and encourage your workforce to do so. 

3. Be Flexible About Time Off for Religious Purposes

Your staff may ask you for time off as annual leave to celebrate a religious event or other religious needs. You are not under a legal obligation to allow for this, but where you refuse it, you could be seen to be discriminating. When you consider the request, you may want to consider allowing them to swap this with standard time off, which the UK offers relating to religion, such as the Easter bank holiday, where their religion does not celebrate Easter.

4. Offer a Place to Pray

Additionally, some religions require those who practice them to pray at specific times during the day. This can be during typical business hours. Providing a quiet space for them to do so is respectful of their religion and belief and helps to minimise disruption to their working hours. You do not necessarily need to provide a room designed for this but simply a quiet private space where they can pray.

5. Be Mindful of Religions When Organising Work Events

When you organise work events, you need to consider different dietary requirements associated with religion and belief. It is helpful to label foods so that those with religion or beliefs can choose appropriately. You must also ensure that you provide non-alcoholic drinks. Also, you may need to think about the location of events where these are away from the typical workplace.

6. Be Sensitive When Allocating Work Duties

Some workplace duties may not suit staff due to their religion or belief. Likewise, a good employer will think about this before allocating where possible. If a staff member asks not to carry out a duty, you should consider this request where possible.

7. Think About Behaviour

Some behaviours you may commonly engage in and not think about are not acceptable for certain religions. For example, this includes:

• handshakes;
• being searched for security purposes; and
• being in a room with a person of the opposite sex.

Therefore, where you can make changes so that your staff member does not have to engage in such behaviour, you should do so. However, this is dependent on how your business or workplace would be affected by this.

Why Might an Employer Accommodate Religion in the Workplace?

As an employer, you are under a legal duty to ensure that you do not discriminate based on religion and that your staff do not harass each other. You also have a responsibility to promote and recognise religion and belief in the workplace. Showing that you accommodate religion and beliefs in your workplace will likely decrease the possibility that discrimination and harassment will occur. Therefore, it helps you to stay within the law.

Key Takeaways

You are under a legal duty as an employer not to discriminate against your workforce based on religion or belief. This includes direct and indirect discrimination as well as harassment and victimisation. You are also under a legal obligation to ensure that your staff do not engage in such practices. As an employer, there are ways that you can accommodate religion and belief in your workplace. For example, you can provide a quiet space for people to pray. Likewise, during work events, ensure that you provide a range of food suitable for religious dietary requirements. You should also be aware that some work duties and behaviours are not acceptable to specific religions.

If you need help with accommodating religion and belief in the workplace in England and Wales, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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