Time off for religious observance; an employer's guide

The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from indirect discrimination due to their religion or belief. This may require employers to allow employees time off work for a religious festival or to take part in a particular mourning ritual.

While most employers are aware that they need to consider an employee’s request for time off work for religious observance, if the employee belongs to one of the major religions, they also need to be alert to requests that relate to some non-religious beliefs. There are limits to which beliefs are afforded legal protection. Even if the Equality Act 2010 protects the religion or belief, employers may also be able to objectively justify refusing a request.

In this blog, we explain what counts as a religion or belief, whether or not employers have to agree to a request, and what to do if several employees ask for the same time off.

What counts as a religion or belief?

The Equality Act 2010 treats a religion or belief, including a philosophical belief, as a protected characteristic. This includes major religions and sects or denominations within those religions. An employee does not have to show that their belief is shared by other members of the same religion. The definition has been broadly interpreted by employment tribunals. The requirements for protection include that the belief must:

• be genuinely held;
• be a belief and not just an opinion or viewpoint;
• be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life;
• attain a level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; and
• be worthy of respect in a democratic society and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others.

Although case law indicates that support of a political party does not usually amount to a philosophical belief, being a committed Marxist could afford protection under the Act. Other examples include being a Wiccan witch and an individual believing that they had a moral duty to act in a way that mitigated the impact of climate change, including persuading others to do the same. 

The Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that a worker’s belief in English nationalism (which involved discriminatory views on Muslims) was not protected under the Act.

If an employee asserts that they have a belief that requires them to take time off, for instance to attend a protest, their belief needs to be carefully assessed against the requirements. We can advise you on this difficult area.

Does the employer have to agree?

If the employee’s religion or belief is protected under the Equality Act, the main legal risk in refusing a request to take holiday in these circumstances is that the employer indirectly discriminates against the employee. The argument runs that the requirement to work at certain times or on a certain day causes the individual a particular disadvantage because of their religion or belief. To defend this, the employer has to show that the refusal is objectively justified.

This is not quite as straightforward as it sounds and employers should not assume that they can rely on this without careful consideration. Firstly, there must be a legitimate aim or real business need for the employee to attend work at those times. Secondly, the requirement must be reasonably necessary to meet that business need and there must be no other less impactful way of achieving this, other than to refuse.

Legitimate aims include productivity, maintaining services to customers or patients, or ensuring workplace health and safety. It must also be reasonably necessary to refuse the request in order to achieve the aim. This means that if there was another option that had less of a discriminatory impact on the individual making the request, the employer cannot justify the refusal. We can advise you on weighing up the business’s needs and the impact on the individual.

Employers should be aware that under the Employment Rights Act 1996, shop and betting workers have the right to refuse to work on Sundays, regardless of their religion. There is no right for these workers to refuse to work on other days of the week for religious reasons.

Other risks of refusing and related rights

If the refusal is discriminatory, a further risk is that the employee would resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal.

Employers should be aware that the employee may have a right to time off work if a loved one has died, depending on the relationship to the deceased, for example parental bereavement leave or paternity leave for a bereaved partner. These rights may apply when a request is made for time off work to take part in a mourning ritual. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employees will gain the right to one week’s bereavement leave following the death of certain individuals. This is expected to come into force in 2027.

What if several employees request the same time off?

Particular problems can arise if the business should receive more requests for time off work to celebrate the same religious festival than it is able to accommodate.

A policy on taking time off for religious observance comes in particularly useful for managing expectations in this scenario. The policy could stipulate that requests will be granted on a first come, first served basis. Alternatively, if requests are all made in good time, names could be selected from a hat. Or, if an individual is refused one year they will be prioritised the next.

How we can help

We can help you determine a fair and workable approach to receiving multiple requests for leave for the same event and prepare a policy to reflect this. We give practical advice to responding to a request for time off and ensuring your business is in the best position possible, if you decide to turn it down.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.