Employment law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Employment law - Essay Example based on religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation as regards the areas covered by this Directive should be prohibited throughout the Community.’1 Following this directive, The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 came into effect on December 2, 2003. Section 2 of the Regulations, define religion in very broad terms as ‘"religion or belief" means any religion, religious belief, or similar philosophical belief.’2 Section 44 of the Equality Act 2006 defines religion or belief in very similar terms.3 The 2003 Regulations are not unlike the legislative provisions for the prevention of discrimination on the grounds of sex and race. In other words discrimination can be either direct or indirect. In order to properly advise Mr. David Williams it will be necessary to look at previous case law and the application of indirect and direct discrimination by reference to established law in the area of sex and race discrimination. The Regulations are applicable to areas of employment that generally cover recruitment terms, promotions, transfers, dismissals and training. Direct discrimination infers treatment of an employee less favourably than the treatment of others on the basis of that person’s religion or belief. Indirect discrimination will apply to situations in which a criteria, practice or provision is adapted in the absence of a good and/or fair reason and disadvantages a person of a certain religion or belief.5 ;Indirect discrimination’ is by and large concerned, with the application of a similar set of rules to a similar group despite the fact that the rules will affect the members of the group in vastly different ways. The European Court of Justice has been rather clear regarding its position on discrimination of any kind as enshrined in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms. Religious freedom has been found to be no less important than any other right. In Kokkinakis v Greece it was