A British Airways employee suffered
discrimination at work over her
Christian beliefs, the European Court
of Human Rights has ruled. Judges ruled Nadia Eweida's rights had
been violated under Article 9 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. She took her case to the European Court
of Human Rights after BA made her
stop wearing a cross visibly. Judges ruled that the rights of three
other Christians had not been violated
by their employers. The other cases involved nurse Shirley
Chaplin, 57, whose employer also
stopped her wearing necklaces with a
cross, Gary McFarlane, 51 - a marriage
counsellor fired after saying he might
object to giving sex therapy advice to gay couples - and registrar Lillian
Ladele, who was disciplined after she
refused to conduct same-sex civil
partnership ceremonies. All four lost separate employment
tribunals relating to their beliefs and
made individual applications to the
court, but their cases are being heard
together. Ms Eweida, 60, was banned from
displaying her white gold cross at work. The four Christians claimed their
employers' actions went against articles
nine and 14 of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which
protected their rights to "freedom of
thought, conscience and religion" and prohibited religious discrimination. Ms Eweida, a Coptic Christian from
Twickenham in south-west London,
was asked to leave her job in 2006
after refusing to remove her cross. An employment tribunal found she had
not been subjected to religious
discrimination but BA later altered its
uniform code to allow symbols of faith,
including crosses. Ms Ladele was disciplined by Islington
Council, in north London, after saying
she did not want to conduct same-sex
civil partnership ceremonies. Her
lawyers said the service could have
been performed by other employees who were prepared to carry them out. Mr McFarlane, a Bristol relationship
counsellor, worked for the Avon branch
of national charity Relate but was
sacked for gross misconduct in 2008
after saying on a training course he
might have an objection to discussing sexual problems with gay couples. Ms Chaplin, from Exeter, was transferred
to a desk job by Royal Devon and
Exeter NHS Trust Hospital for failing to
remove a confirmation crucifix on a
small chain, which she had worn to
work for 30 years. The BBC's Dominic Casciani says judges
decided health and safety matters
outweighed her religious rights.