UK Court of Appeal: No Discrimination In Requring Official To Register Civil Partnerships

12/16/09 Religion Clause, by law professor Howard M. Friedman:

In Ladele v. London Borough of Islington, (EWCA, Dec. 15, 2009), the Court of Appeals of England and Wales agreed with Britain's Employment Appeals Tribunal (see prior posting) that a Christian marriage registrar was not subjected to illegal discrimination when she was disciplined and threatened with dismissal for refusing to register same-sex civil partnerships.

12/17/09 hunter of justice, by law professor Nan Hunter:

I am in basic agreement with this decision. In my view, public employees have a duty to serve the public, not merely a portion of the public. However, if offices can be organized so that religious objectors can be transferred or otherwise assigned to jobs that do not involve issuing licenses to the public, that seems a pragmatic and reasonable result.