Workplace Religious Discrimination

Workplace religious discrimination has two edges that regularly surprise people, and both matter when you are assessing a complaint.

It protects the absence of belief. Someone with no religion is protected on the same basis as someone with one. Pressure to join a prayer, attend a faith-based event or accept religious content in a work setting can be the same problem in the other direction.

It covers assumed belief. Treating a person differently because of the faith you assume they hold, based on their name, appearance or background, engages the same protection whether or not the assumption is correct.

Both edges tend to be missed because the usual mental model is a believer being refused something. Widening it changes what you look for when a complaint arrives.

The Fair Work Ombudsman sets out the general protections, and the position varies by state and territory. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s equal employment opportunity course and cultural awareness training.