On the face of it this doesn't sound like it would fall within the genuine occupational requirement provisions of the equality act, and in the absence of a GOQ could give rise to discriminatory treatment on the grounds of religion or belief. Good source of guidance is the EHRC code of practice (chapter 13) here: www.equalityhumanrights.com/.../employment-statutory-code-practice

would advise treading very cautiously before applying a potential discriminatory criterion/criteria without first assessing whether there is a GOQ

In reply to Ann Simpson:

Thanks Ann my thoughts exactly. Teaching roles I can understand but office admin roles seems to be stretching the law a bit too much. It’s a colleague of mine that applied and was told although she was the best candidate the other person was a practicing catholic and therefore got the job.

In reply to Maria Tonks:

The Equality Act provides that where an employer has an ethos based on religion or belief, they are permitted to rely on the occupational requirement exception if they can show that, having regard to that ethos and the nature or context of the work:

(Sch. 9, Para 3)


• the requirement of having a particular religion or belief is an occupational requirement;


• the application of the requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim; and


• a person does not meet the requirement or the employer has reasonable grounds for not being satisfied that the person meets the requirement.

I think there is case law to the effect that many but not all teachers might be legitimately covered but fairly certainly seems disproportionate etc for eg admin staff or cleaners or caretakers etc??

In reply to David:

Thanks David it’s strange how you start to question yourself so great to get confirmation of my initial understanding

In reply to Maria Tonks:

Ouch - I think the organisation has exposed itself here. Open to your friend to seek to challege by way of an ET claim (depending on how they feel about that - personally I wouldn't be quick to litigate, but that's because I know how long and intense it can be, as well as expensive) but otherwise, may take the view that this wasn't/isn't the right employer for them, given that recruitment is a fairly 'bread and butter HR practice and if they manage to get it wrong so early, your friend may think 'lucky escape'. Appreciate we don't have the full facts of the situation but as David says, may be a stretch to say that the administrative work requires someone to be of a particular faith in order to do the work in question.
If your friend wanted to at least draw to the attention of the School that their recruitment practice is questionable, she could always write to them to ask them to set out the genuine occupational requirement (wrt to the sections of the Act) on which they have relied, when reaching their decision to favour the other applicant on the grounds of their religion and/or belief (and conversely discount her application on the basis of her religion and/or belief). I think that's perhaps what I may do personally if I was minded to highlight the point (without necessarily intending to pursue it further) - but sometimes I'm just a bit pedantic!