Research Handbook on European Anti-Discrimination Law: Religion and Belief

The chapter considers two elements of non-discrimination protection on grounds of religion in employment, together with the related CJEU case law: the protection available to individual workers and the position of staff and employers in workplaces with an ethos based on religion or belief. The protection against discrimination on grounds of religion and belief raises a number of fundamental and distinctive questions, many of which are peculiar to the context of religion and belief and which do not have direct analogies with the protection of other characteristics. The chapter discusses the challenges facing the CJEU in determining the proper scope of EU non-discrimination law in respect of religion and belief, given complicating factors, such as the parallel human rights protection for freedom of religion. It suggests that the Court’s decisions involve a compromise which reflects the varied historical, political and constitutional role of religion among member states of the EU