What is religion or belief discrimination?

This is when you are treated differently because of your religion or belief, or lack of religion or belief, in one of the situations covered by the Equality Act.

The treatment could be a one-off action or as a result of a rule or policy. It does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

There are some circumstances when being treated differently due to religion or belief is lawful, explained below.

What the Equality Act says about religion or belief discrimination
The Equality Act 2010 says you must not be discriminated against because:

you are (or are not) of a particular religion
you hold (or do not hold) a particular philosophical belief
someone thinks you are of a particular religion or hold a particular belief (this is known as discrimination by perception)
you are connected to someone who has a religion or belief (this is known as discrimination by association)
In the Equality Act religion or belief can mean any religion, for example an organised religion like Christianity, Judaism, Islam or Buddhism, or a smaller religion like Rastafarianism or Paganism, as long as it has a clear structure and belief system.

The Equality Act also covers non-belief or a lack of religion or belief. For example:

the Equality Act protects Christians if they are discriminated against because of their Christian beliefs, it also protects people of other religions and those with no religion if they are discriminated against because of their beliefs
What qualifies as a philosophical belief?
The Equality Act says that a philosophical belief must be genuinely held and more than an opinion. It must be cogent, serious and apply to an important aspect of human life or behaviour. For example:

an employee believes strongly in man-made climate change and feels that they have a duty to live their life in a way which limits their impact on the earth to help save it for future generations: this would be classed as a belief and protected under the Equality Act
The Equality Act also says that a belief must also be worthy of respect in a democratic society and not affect other people’s fundamental rights. For example:

an employee believes that white people are a superior race to others and tells their colleagues so: this would not be classed as a belief protected under the Equality Act
Different types of religion or belief discrimination
There are four main types of religion or belief discrimination.

Direct discrimination
This happens when someone treats you worse than another person in a similar situation because of your religion or belief. For example:

a bank refuses you a loan because you’re Jewish
Discrimination can occur even where both the discriminator and the person being discriminated against hold the same religious or philosophical belief. For example:

a Hindu businessman interviews two women for a job as his personal assistant. One is Hindu and the other is not religious. The Hindu woman is the best candidate at interview but he gives the job to the other woman because he thinks his clients (who are mainly Christian or have no religion or belief) will prefer it.
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