DISMISSAL | RELIGIOUS FREEDOM | SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH | DAY OF REST | PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY | REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

 

Constitutional Court, judgment 544/2014, 15.07.2014

 

JURISDICTION: Constitutional

CASE: 53/12

SUBJECT: Constitutional review; dismissal

RAPPORTEUR: Maria José Rangel de Mesquita

RULING: Interprets the provisions in Article 14(1)(a) and (c) of the Religious Freedom Act with the meaning that they also cover work rendered in shifts, and grants the appeal, reversing the appealed judgment for it to be amended so that Article 14(1)(a) and (c) of the Religious Freedom Act is applied to the assessment of the appellant’s dismissal in a way consistent with that interpretation.

DOMESTIC LAW:

Portuguese Constitution [Articles 1, 8, 13, 16, 18, 19(6), 24, 25, 41, 53, 59(1), 61, 80, 276(4)]

Religious Freedom Act [Article 14(1)]

Constitutional Court Act [Articles 70(1)(b), 80(3)]

Labour Code [Articles 55, 56, 90, 212(2), 218]

Decree-Law No. 259/98, of 18 August 1998 [Articles 15(1)(a), 16, 22]

Constitutional Court, judgment 423/87, 23.11.1987

Constitutional Court, judgment no. 174/93, 17.02.1993

Constitutional Court, judgment No. 681/95, 05.12.1995

Constitutional Court, judgment 5/96, 16.01.1996

Constitutional Court, judgment 602/13, 20.09.2013

INTERNATIONAL LAW:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of 1948 (Article 18)

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of 1966 (Article 18)

United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion or Belief, of 1981 (Articles 1, 6)

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, of 1992 (Article 2)

Treaty on European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 [Article 6(1)]

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, of 2000, as amended in 2007 (Articles 10, 53)

European Convention on Human Rights, of 1950 (Articles 8, 9, 14)

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, of 1995 (Articles 7, 8)

European Commission of Human Rights, X v. United Kingdom, application No. 8160/78, 12.03.1981

European Commission of Human Rights, Tuomo Konttinen v. Finland, application No. 24949/94, 03.12.1996

European Commission of Human Rights, Louise Stedman v. United Kingdom, application No. 29107/95, 09.04.1997

European Court of Human Rights, Cha`are Shalom ve Tsedek v. France, application No. 27417/95, 27.06.2000

European Court of Human Rights, Francesco Sessa v. Italy, application No. 28790/08, 03.12.2012

FOREIGN LAW:

German Constitutional Court, judgment of 15.01.2002

Spanish 1979 Constitution (Article 16)

Spanish Constitutional Court judgment No. 19/1985, 13.02.1985

KEYWORDS: Dismissal; religious freedom; Seventh Day Adventist Church; day of rest; principle of equality; reasonable accommodation; freedom of conscience, religion and worship; right to legal protection against all forms of discrimination; human dignity; proportionality principle; primacy of international law; freedom of corporate organization; legitimate rights of the employer; religion; worship; believers; religious denomination; Christian faith; Saturday; Sabbath; Sabbatarian practices; day of worship; religious rites; work schedule; unjustified and disproportionate losses for the employer; external worship; private or individual worship; religious grounds; ethical and legal foundations of a humanistic and rational nature; our community; citizens; iniquitous and intolerable religious practices ; right to suspend work obligations; weekly day of rest; festivities; time periods dictated by one’s religion; registered church or religious community; full compensation; right of a personal nature; lawful and legitimate disobedience; religious majority in Portugal; Catholic religion; majority religion; evident secularization; tradition; believers of other faiths; core content of the right; collision of rights; indeterminate concept; concept borrowed from another legal system; religious imperatives; worship acts; liturgies; prayer; religiously motivated meditation; religious ceremonies and rites; general fundamental right to conscientious objection; religious, political, philosophical or ideological beliefs; moral integrity; minority religious organizations; double negative and positive dimensions of religious freedom; non-establishment principle; religious neutrality of the State; individual, collective and institutional dimensions of religious freedom; objective and subjective dimensions of religious freedom; internal and external dimensions of the right; right to keep a day of rest prescribed by one’s religion; strengthened by conscience imperatives; multilevel, national, regional and universal framework; highest level of protection; minimum standards of protection; mere safeguard against discriminatory treatments; social relations; specific duty of respect for employers; general duty of respect; tolerance obligation; principle of tolerance; principle of accommodation of the rights associated with the exercise of religion in the social sphere; accommodation of religious freedom in a plural community; duty of employers to accommodate workers’ religious freedom; weighting of other constitutionally protected rights and interests; unreasonable and excessive compression of freedom of religion; authorised minister; principles of religious choice; civilizational community; certain physical mutilations; polygamy; absolute right; protection of the worker’s life and physical and psychological integrity; family and social integration; “radicalism”; “freedom to resign”; good faith in fulfilling contractual obligations; harmonise the competing interests; period dedicated to worship; obligations arising from the contract; disciplinary misconduct; religious belief; disciplinary procedure; work on Saturday; flexible working hours; practice of religious worship; right to observe the day of worship of one’s religion; negative discrimination; religious holidays; “acquired right”; work on rotating shifts; duty of obedience; labour relation; serious contractual crisis; disobedience to legitimate orders; statutory restrictions to civil and political rights; right to personal identity; creed; inviolable right; profess the faith; rituals; exemption from work, classes and exams for religious reasons; principle of separation between church and state; right to enjoy religious days; render worship on their holy day; interpretation consistent with the Constitution; constitutional right to equality; Italian legal system; religious and moral dilemma; psychological pressure; immanent limits of fundamental rights; normative interpretation; strong freedom; “internal forum”; external dimension of freedom of conscience; freedom to act in conscience; religious dictates; right to observe days of worship or rest; laic and non-denominational state; recognition of religion and its social importance; freedom of thought; development of personality; meetings and public demonstrations with religious purposes; confessional teaching; dissemination of religion; proselyte goals; right to act in accordance with one’s religious beliefs; Muslim; Jewish religious holiday; Yom Kippur; Sukkot; transnational protection systems; Muslim and Jewish religious beliefs; ritual slaughter; Muslim butcher; Jewish butcher shops; exception to general rules; Islamic slaughter rites; need to accommodate religious practices in a balance with the goal of protecting animals; discrimination based on the worker’s religion or beliefs; religious dimension of the person; essential unity between belief and behaviour; creation of conditions – in the social sphere – that are more favourable to the exercise of religious freedom; religious phenomenon; widespread reach of the fundamental right to freedom of religion; possibly competing rights and interests; right to rest; religious holidays in Portugal; ensuring religious freedom in a plural community; prevalence of the right to free economic initiative; North-American case law; reasonableness and proportionality assessments; accommodation of the worker’s fundamental rights; broad constitutional protection to freedom of religion; interpretative ruling

COMMENTS: Coming soon.

REFERENCES IN THE LITERATURE:

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BORGES, Ana Sofia dos Santos, A Liberdade Religiosa em Contexto Laboral: Em Especial, o Problema do Uso de Símbolos Religiosos [Religious freedom in the work context: in particular, the problem of the use of religious symbols], Porto, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2020, available at http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/30355 [04.05.2022].

BOTELHO, Catarina Santos, “Direito fundamental à objeção de consciência na ‘Sociedade de Risco’: Abrir a Caixa de Pandora?” [Right to conscientious objection in the ‘Risk Society’: Opening Pandora’s box?], in AAVV, Garantia de Direitos e Regulação: Perspectivas de Direito Administrativo, Lisbon, AAFDL, 2020, pp. 75-104.

CABRAL, Tiago Sérgio, “Testemunhas de Jeová e a liberdade religiosa no séc. XXI: Uma análise com base no acórdão Palau-Martinez vs. France” [“Jehovah’s Witnesses and freedom of religion in the 21st century: Examining the significance of the European Court of Human Rights ruling in Palau-Martinez vs. France”], e-Pública, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2017, pp. 198-219.

CASTRO, Bernardo de, “As sentenças de interpretação conforme à Constituição: Análise dos limites jurídico-funcionais do Tribunal Constitucional nas relações com as demais jurisdições” [Interpretative ruling in accordance with the Constitution: Legal and functional limits of the Constitutional Court in its relation with other jurisdictions], e-Pública, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2016, pp. 229-258.

CRUZ, Nuno Miguel, “A relação entre Justiça e Direito: Objecção de consciência e desobediência civil” [Relation between Justice and Law: Conscientious objection and civil disobedience], Revista Jurídica Luso Brasileira, Vol. 3, No. 5, 2017, pp. 1145-117.

FIGUEIREDO, Eduardo António da Silva, “Breve nótula sobre diálogo judicial e a sua importância na proteção multinível dos direitos” [Judicial dialogue and its importance for the multilevel protection of rights], Revista Ibérica do Direito, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020, pp. 113-135.

LOPES, Andressa Batista, A Acomodação Razoável das Imposições Religiosas na Relação de Emprego [Reasonable accommodation of religious imperatives in labour relations], Coimbra, Universidade de Coimbra, 2019, available at http://hdl.handle.net/10316/90262 [05.05.2022].

LOUREIRO, Francisco José Abrantes Serra, A Liberdade Religiosa do Trabalhador à luz da Convenção Europeia dos Direitos do Homem [Workers’ religious freedom in light of the European Convention on Human Rights], Leiria, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, 2016, available at http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/2117 [04.05.2022].

MACHADO, Susana Sousa, “Proposta de uma metodologia jurídica para o estudo da liberdade religiosa na relação laboral” [Proposal of a legal methodology for the study of religious freedom in work relations], Quaestio Iuris, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2020, pp. 1895-1913.

MAGALHÃES, David, “Religious freedom in Portugal: Problems and solutions in complex times”, in AAVV, The Battle for Religious Freedom. Jurisprudence and Axiology, Warsaw, Institute of Justice in Warsaw, 2020, pp. 27-54.

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MONIZ, Jorge Botelho, “Covid-19 em Portugal: A Liberdade Religiosa na Era Secular” [Covid-19 in Portugal: Religious freedom in the secular age], Forum Sociológico, Series II, 2021, pp. 9-17.

ROCHA, Joaquim Freitas da, and BARBOSA, Andreia, “Equívocos a propósito da laicidade do Estado (Perspetiva jurídico-constitucional)” [Misconceptions about the state’s secular character (constitutional perspective)], Revista Jurídica Portucalense, 2021, pp. 130-151.

SILVA JÚNIOR, Ricardo Oliveira da, Direito Fundamental ao Trabalho Justo: Uma Análise Jurisprudencial Global [Fundamental right to fair working conditions: A global case law analysis], Coimbra, Universidade de Coimbra, 2017, available at http://hdl.handle.net/10316/84210 [04.05.2022].

SOUZA, Jefferson Lima de, Globalização e Alterações Constitucionais [Globalization and constitutional changes], Lisbon, Universidade de Lisboa, 2021, available at http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49440 [05.05.2022].

 

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