Imposing religious beliefs on others justified dismissal

Mark I totally agree with you. I am a practicing Christian and would be prepared to pray for people - in fact I often tell people in distressed situations I will pray for them in my prayer time - if they say please do I ask if they would like me to pray with them, if they look disinterested I leave it at that. If anyone objected I would apologise. It's interesting that we have to endure drivel about celeb lifestyles, Big Brother, clubbing escapades and other topics which can cause irritation, yet we can't touch on our own extra-work activities without risking our jobs!
On the legal position, it really does seem that within the UK we are so afraid of offending more vociferous faiths so we attempt to quench the majority faith within the country in an attempt to still some angry voices.

Thanks Simon, that clears it up, he was clearly dismissed for poor performance, religious reasons being only a minor part in it.
Shame it's reported out of context.

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:KVxTseEK7AMJ:www.employmentappeals.gov.uk/Public/Upload/08_0298rjfhJOJOJ.doc+chondol&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=uk&client=firefox-a gives an overview of what happened. There were other reasons for the dismissal:

1.Breached health and safety procedures and potentially placed people at risk.
2.Breached lone working procedures.
3.Failed to seek appropriate agreement to take OM to your home on 1st January 2007.
4.Failed to follow correct procedures in relation to visiting service users outside of your normal working hours.
5.Failed to follow correct procedures in relation to the completion of incident reports.
6.Failed to follow a reasonable management instruction not to overtly promote your religious beliefs.
7.Failed to adhere to a service users care plan.

So it wasn't all about the religious beliefs at all.

Almost agree with you Kevin, my point was that if someone offers a prayer as a religious or humanitarian offering and it causes offense you can simply decline. Besides I don't believe the offer of a prayer should cause offense, i would be happy that someone simply cared enough to make the gesture whether they be Christian, Jewish, Islamic or buddist, but if i was a strict atheist i'd just say no. You're obviously not religious as you state that this would give false hope to patients or relatives. Why is hope false unless you don't believe in it? In which case it becomes irrevelent to you anyway? No one wants imposition its not democratic it only becomes imposition if you don't say 'no thanks'.

However i agree that there may have been patients in his care who were vulnerable and susceptible to persuasion and incapable of saying 'no'

Not sure why this touches such a nerve with me as i'm not particularly religious but we do live in a predominantly Christian country and one of tolerance and welcoming of other cultures. But we are in danger of becoming too sterile and PC, so that in order not to offend one persons creed we outlaw anothers.

Jane, if the employer is discriminating solely on religious grounds then the employer is discriminating unfairly.
Peter, I wear a Sale Sharks and Scottish RU badge in my lapel but I stop short of proselytising Rugby Union to colleagues and strangers. ALL religions quite properly SHOULD fall foul of overstepping the mark. I know few people, short of clerics, who have the promotion of religion written into their job descriptions and performance agreements.
Mark, what if offering a prayer was deeply offensive to the recipient, because they followed another creed (or no creed at all). What if judgment was clouded so as to give false hope to the patient or relatives.
Science and religion are uneasy bedfellows and best left well apart. If someone asks for pastoral care all's well and fine but imposition is not acceptable.

I suppose that one of the issues in the case of the carer, was the vulnerablilty of the clients in his care, and whether these clients were in a position to objectively assimilate the doctrine and beliefs presented to them.

By end of the decade if my colleague sneezes and I say 'Bless you', will I be out?!
It seems so harsh that this man has been dismissed; a nurse was also recently suspended for refusing to remove her cross, another is suspended for offering a prayer. Religion aside was this man a good carer? I don't know, it doesn't say but if he was dismissed because his beliefs had affected his judgement and ability to do his job properly fair enough. If he was a good carer and to all intents and purposes did his job but was dismissed for practising Christianity then it was wrong.

Everyone has the right to speak out freely for what they believe in but equally everyone has the right not to listen, without fear of reprisal.

How far does 'promoting your religious beliefs' go/ Does wearing an emblem qualify, or advertising a religious meeting on the staff notice board? The interpretation of this rule needs to be carefully thought through otherwise all relogions could be said to fall foul of it.

Peter Edwards

Does this also work the other way - i.e. if an employer of a small business actively promotes a particular religion by displaying literature in a waiting area and only employing new staff who belong to a particular religion - is this classed as discrimination?