Nadia Eweida, Shirley Chapline, Gary McFarlane and Lillian Ladele

Finally, the long awaited decision in the four discrimination claims taken to the European Court of Human Rights.  It’s good news for one but not for all.

The ECHR has found that Nadia Eweida suffered religious discrimination after BA refused to allow her to wear a cross visibly at work.

However, the ECHR ruled that the others had not been discriminated against (Mrs Chaplin, a nurse, transferred to a desk job by the NHS after refusing to remove a confirmation crucifix which she’d worn for 30 years, Mr McFarlane a marriage counsellor who objected to give sex therapy advice to gay couples and registrar Lillian Ladele who was disciplined after refusing to conduct same sex marriages).

The point of distinction between Eweida and Chaplin is that the ECHR determined that employers should be able to refuse permission to wear a cross on health and safety grounds.

This is all very uncomfortable for Mr Cameron who has publicly supported the women and promised to change the law to allow workers to wear religious symbols at work at the same time as government lawyers were fighting the claims.

We will update you as to the detail of the failed claims as this emerges and also look at the wider implications of these landmark decisions in blogs to come…………..