Expert Witness: A right to believe – or a right to offend?

Religious and philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010

Summary:

OH law expert Professor Diana Kloss considers the EAT’s recent decision in Forstater v CGD Europe and the court’s distinction between the right to hold a particular belief and the rights of others who may be affected by that belief.

The Equality Act 2010 (EqA) brought together all the laws protecting employees against discrimination because of a protected characteristic, of which there are nine, including sex, gender reassignment, race and disability. A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), Maya Forstater v CGD Europe, Center for Global Development and Masood Ahmed¹, examined the protected characteristic of religion or philosophical belief in the context of the debate about whether sex is immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity, a belief which some transgender people find offensive…

Diana Kloss is a barrister, former part-time employment judge, Acas arbitrator and author.

Author: Kloss D

Tags case law equality act law

Occupational Health at Work August/September 2021 (vol. 18/2) pp41-43

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