It’s Not What You Said, It’s the Way That You Said It: Manifesting Protected Beliefs in the Workplace Following Higgs v Farmor’s School

In Higgs v Farmor’s School [2025] EWCA Civ 109, the Court of Appeal clarified the legal framework for workplace discrimination claims involving the manifestation of protected beliefs under the Equality Act 2010, affirming its decision in Page v NHS Trust. The court held that adverse treatment due to an objectively inappropriate or objectionable manifestation of a protected belief is not discrimination 'because of' the belief itself, if the response is proportionate under Article 9(2) ECHR. This introduces a justification test into the causation analysis for direct discrimination, aligning domestic law with Convention rights but threatening to undermine fundamental features of the Equality Act 2010 by incorporating justification analysis into the test for direct discrimination. Proposing a five-step test, this note argues in favour of protecting manifestations via indirect discrimination to ensure ECHR compliance without distorting direct discrimination principles, preserving the Equality Act’s fundamental features.