Religionsutövning i arbetslivet : Ett nyanserat perspektiv på hur religiösa intressen kan tillvaratas på den svenska arbetsmarknaden

Sammanfattning: The aim of this essay is to investigate how a demarcation is made between employees’ right to religious freedom next to employers’ interest in running their enterprise in an efficient way. Case law shows that the Arrowsmith-principle forum internum and forum externum could be used when a demarcation has to be made. Furthermore, case law shows that that the employee—when accepting a contract of employment—have accepted certain restrictions of his or her religious freedom. When the employee later on isn’t willing to fulfill duties stated in the contract—due to his or her religious beliefs—it has been defined as labor refusal. However, it seems as though The Court has come to develop a nuanced view on the matter, arguing in the case of Eweida v the United Kingdom for restrictions—when made on employee’s freedom of religion—to be proportionate. Case law further shows that religious beliefs are not protected when they’re challenging other fundamental rights such as protection from discrimination due to sexual orientation. Conflict has surfaced when religious employees were unable to shake hands with employers of the opposite sex, asked for time to pray during working hours and requested to wear a headscarf or a turban at work. The essay also investigates the Swedish legal case ”handskakningsfallet” where the religious manifestation was decided on the basis of direct discrimination. However, the essay finds strong reasons for such manifestations to be assessed in relation to indirect discrimination, which would enable for proportionate assessments. Furthermore, such assessments would pave way for fair and correct judgements when investigating if one has been discriminated or not.   Lastly the essay highlights the importance of making such proportionate assessment stated above when deciding if religious interests should be protected or not on the labour market to enable a fair balance between all interests.