The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has come under fire for its decision to intervene in a key religious discrimination case before the European Court of Human Rights
The National Secular Society (NSS) has criticised the EHRC for intervening in the cases of Eweida, Chaplin, Ladele and McFarlane. Last week it announced its intention to intervene to argue the cases were correctly dismissed by the UK courts.
Eweida and Chaplin concern the wearing of crosses at work. Ladele, a registrar, and McFarlane, a Relate councillor, objected on religious grounds to dealing with same sex couples. All four claim their human rights were breached and that UK law must change.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the NSS, said: “Any further accommodation of religious conscience in UK equality law would create a damaging hierarchy of rights, with religion at the top.
“We believe that any change to the law to increase religious accommodation—as most if not all other interveners are calling for—stands the risk of undermining UK equality jurisprudence, which is probably the best in Europe. In the cases of Ladele and McFarlane, the hard-earned rights of gay people are placed at risk if it is decided that ‘reasonable accommodation’ is acceptable when religious people provide (or refuse to provide) services to them.”
The EHRC is intervening as an independent body on the aspects of the cases concerning Arts 9 and 14 and is interested in the impact the case could have on the concept of “reasonable accommodation”.
An EHRC spokesperson said: “There is no intent on the Commission’s part that such a hierarchy should be created. The law is very clear. Everyone is protected from discrimination.”
