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Principle of non-discrimination and faith-based organizations

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26 August 1789, then the constitutions of 27 October 1946 and 4 October 1958, lay down a principle of equality before the law that prohibits differences in treatment between persons, notably if based on religion or beliefs. French legislation on discrimination developed in the main by transposing Community directives (Law of 16 November 2001, supplemented by the laws of 17 January 2002 and 27 May 2008). Discrimination is punishable under criminal law (Penal Code, Articles 225-1 et seq.) and the Labour Code punishes any act of workplace discrimination (Labour Code, Articles L.1131-1 et seq.). In this area, possible differences in treatment must be justified by the nature of the task to be accomplished, to respond to an essential and crucial professional requirement and be proportionate to the desired objective (Labour Code, Articles L. 1133-1 and L. 1321-3). Case law on religious discrimination is relatively scarce.

In transposing Community directives, French laws have not retained any exceptions to equal treatment based on convictions or religion (Article 4 of Directive 2000/78) and this issue has anyway not been the subject of debate. Case law has, however, acknowledged on several occasions that a company with a religious ethos is not committing discrimination by choosing its staff according to a criterion of religious conformity (Court of Cassation, Assembly of 19 May 1978, Dame Roy, no. 76-41.211; Social Chamber, 20 November 1986, Fischer, no. 84-43.243).

The powers yielded by the High Authority against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE), created in 2005, were transferred in May 2011 to the Defender of Human Rights, a new, independent constitutional authority with particular expertise in the fight against discrimination.

D 21 April 2013    AFrançoise Curtit

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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