When are churches allowed to discriminate? How churches’ role in public service delivery affects employment equality regulations

Abstract

Triggered by the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC, member states have reformed their equal treatment laws, including exemptions for religious organisations which allow them to lay off employees who allegedly act contrary the organisations’ ‘ethos’. However, whereas in some countries, churches have managed to defend these exemptions; elsewhere, this possibility has become more restricted. This paper discusses the role of religious organisations in public policy to explain divergent outcomes in three different countries. Referring to assumptions of actor-centred institutionalism, it argues that churches have been most influential in Germany due to their significant status in welfare delivery which has also strengthened their role as political actors. In contrast, in the UK and, particularly, The Netherlands churches have lost their important roles in welfare and recently also in education. Therefore, British churches were only able to prevent restrictions at the very last moment, whereas their Dutch counterparts finally had to accept them.