Update 2 | Consultation ends on European law which threatens religious employers

Institute Update Issue 2 - May 2002

Consultation ends on European law which threatens religious employers

By Jonathan Phillips

The Government has ended its consultation on a European employment directive which could threaten the ethos of religious groups. The directive bans discrimination against employees based on religion, belief or sexual orientation.

The problem is that the directive treats churches and Christian organisations as if they were secular employers. This means Christian groups may no longer be able to employ only Christian staff. The directive equally affects other religions. There are some safeguards for religious groups. For example, churches will still have the right to insist their minister is a Christian. However, if a church reserves other posts only for believers, such as the job of church secretary, it could face a legal challenge.

Much depends on what the Government does to protect religious people in implementing the directive. The Government signed up to the directive last year, but only after religious groups successfully argued for a rewording to give them more safeguards. Nevertheless, despite the rewording the agreed directive remains a threat to religious employers.

The Government has until December 2003 to introduce legislation to implement the directive into UK law. It is this planned implementation on which the Government has just finished consulting. The Christian Institute has held seminars on the directive for Christian employers. The Institute also published a briefing on the Government’s consultation. The Christian Institute says the Government must give religious groups as many safeguards as possible, so that the religious ethos of Christian organisations can be protected as is currently the case.

The Government has already decided that the final legislation will take the form of regulations rather than a full Bill. This means there will be no opportunity to amend the legislation in Parliament, although Parliament has the option of rejecting the regulations outright. The Government says it will hold another public consultation when the draft regulations are completed. It is expected this consultation will take place in the second half of this year. The Christian Institute will keep supporters
informed.

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