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04 August 2023 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 8036 / Categories: Features , Discrimination , Human rights , Employment
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Freedom of expression: what’s acceptable?

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Where is the line between the right to freedom of religion & the lawful expression of that right? Nicholas Dobson examines a complex question for the Employment Appeal Tribunal
  • When considering the lawfulness of the expression of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, it is necessary to determine whether any interference with those rights was in respect of the manifestation of the claimant’s protected belief, or rather was due to a justified objection to the manner of that manifestation.

Those having higher mileage on their personal odometers will have lived through profound social changes. For example, people in same-sex relationships (or suspected of having same-sex orientation) were, until relatively recently, subject to considerable social stigma—and sometimes violent abuse. For same-sex relationships were legalised only with the passing of the Sexual Offences Act on 26 July 1967, and then only between two consenting adults over the age of 21 and in private. Wide social acceptance of such stigmas was supported, particularly among practising Christians, by Bible teaching

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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