UK Supreme Court Judgement Delivered

The judgment of the UK’s court of final appeal has been delivered in the so-called “gay cake” discrimination case. A unanimous decision of the five-person Supreme Court found in favour of the Christian owners of a Belfast bakery who refused to produce a cake with a slogan promoting same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court ruled that the bakery’s refusal to produce a cake with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage” was not discriminatory. Background to the verdict The cake was ordered by Mr. Gareth Lee who intended to bring the cake to an event organised by campaigners for same-sex marriage. The bakery initially accepted the order before later advising Mr. Lee that he would receive a full refund as the owners could not in conscience produce such a cake. The claim’s journey to the Supreme Court Mr. Lee initiated a claim against the bakery for direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs contrary to Northern Ireland’s equality legislation. Both the County Court and the Court of Appeal held that the refusal to take Mr. Lee’s order constituted direct discrimination. Supreme Court decision The bakery owners this week successfully appealed against the order of the Court of Appeal at a special sitting of the UK’s Supreme Court in Belfast. The Supreme Court concluded that the statutory prohibition on discrimination should not compel the bakery owners to express a political opinion that is contrary to their religious beliefs. It was about the cake, not the customer The Supreme Court reasoned that because the bakery owners’ objection was not to provide the cake to Mr. Lee but to being required to promote the message on the cake, the situation was not comparable to a person being refused a job because of their religious faith or sexual orientation. Influence of European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) The bakery owners’ rights under ECHR include freedom of thought, conscience and religion which incorporates the right not to be obliged to manifest beliefs one does not hold. The Supreme Court confirmed that while the bakery owners could not lawfully refuse to supply the cake to Mr. Lee because he was a gay man or because he supported gay marriage, the facts of this case differed in that the bakers were asked to produce a cake iced with a message with which they profoundly disagreed. Comparable ROI decision A similar case was heard south of the border in the Workplace Relations Commission last year which reached a largely similar conclusion. A customer, in protest at the case being taken by Mr. Lee in Northern Ireland, ordered a cake from a Dublin bakery with specific instructions to include a lengthy message promoting heterosexual marriage. The customer failed to provide prima-facie evidence to prove that he had been treated less favourably than another person on the ground of his religious beliefs. This case was likewise about the cake and not the customer. Equality in Northern Ireland Although the recent Northern Ireland case did not directly deal with employment equality, it is important to note the Supreme Court’s conclusion that the obligations imposed by equality legislation do not include forcing people to express a political opinion that is contrary to their individual beliefs. The decision of the Supreme Court is a welcome clarification of the law and calls into question the decision of Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission to pursue the case. While the decision is an endorsement of freedom of conscience, it should not be taken by employers as a license to discriminate. Discrimination is prohibited by law and discriminatory practices in employment are strictly monitored. To learn more about how discrimination manifests in the workplace, you can access our recent guide by clicking here. To clarify how this decision might affect your organisation, please call the Peninsula 24-hour advice line at 0818 923 923