Is denying time off work to attend a music festival discriminatory?

It’s not a protected characteristic so no
This and that was the end of it. There is no such thing as protected philosophical belief.

The solicitor that made a nice little financial gain from this must be very pleased with themselves. How they've managed to convince an executive that they had a case, I'd love to know. Maybe using philosophical arguments!

We have recently had a thread about time off over Christmas. It can be unfair to work on Christmas Day but no one is claiming it’s discrimination against Christians

Edit: no one that I’ve seen, anyway. I’m sure people do try and say that actually

On another note, Bob Vylan seems to be giving his voice a rest and letting his penis join in

Rather bored during a slack period some years ago, the guys in our Legal Dept. worked out that if you changed your religion frequently enough you could claim a religious holiday every month of the year and in some cases, two.

It was put to HR unofficially (i.e. down the pub) and HR rubbed their hands with glee and effectively said "Bring it on!"

I had a look at her baby carrier business. Selling carriers to carry children up to five years of age! Blimey.

Sorry, got side tracked, what was her issue?

Easter monday?

Some Christians don't recognise it no i dont know the full details

Totally. I 🙄when I saw her pic

Alternative types have a hard enough time getting work as it is. Fuckery like this just adds to that image.

Some people can't bear to be told no.

I remember all that too! The last one you mentioned was a chap insisting on his right to be barefoot at work, I think.
I’d enjoy reading that stuff again; it certainly got the old energy levels up!

I told my manager that I would happy work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day because my new year was 21 December - the winter solstice.

I was quietly given 21 December off every year from then on. I didn't even put in for it, they just rota'd me off that day. I wonder if they were worried I'd cry discrimination otherwise? I wouldn't have done, I'd just do my very quiet solo celebrations before or after work!

I run my own business and people like this are my worst nightmare.

Every worker should have a right to pick a few days of annual leave in a year as they really wish.

It is tricky with widely popular days like christmas, but 3 days in july requested 6 months in advance?

You can refuse time off for anything though including genuine religious festivals like Eid or Xmas. It’s not discriminatory if there is a valid business reason and everyone is treated the same

I was going to say "is she mid 30's in age?" before I saw her picture, can't work out if she is or not.

But she looks Generation E, the "entitled generation"

This is why BH are often included in leave entitlement, especially in charity sector. I’ve worked for very diverse organisations and there’s never been an issue around which religious days are more important for this reason - and it’s first come, first served. I think in this particular case the employer couldn’t fine cover for her requested leave.

well she’s managed to screw up her employment chances now. I’m guessing she thought of the quote ‘all publicity is good publicity’ since it’s free advertising and in the independent it mentioned she now runs her own business which i personally wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.
It’s interesting that the company refused her annual leave though, so it leads me to think it’s perhaps not the most flexible employer. Then again it doesn’t stipulate how much annual leave she had owing / already taken. She may have been better going down the disability discrimination route, as she had been unwell, and within 6/7 months of working there required a chunk of time off. Whatever the cause of the disgruntlement she hasn’t done herself any favours. Added to which I thought until January 2027 employers could say ‘goodbye’ to employees without giving a reason within 2 years of starting the job?

but as a Christian I would not expect special treatment to be able to go to new wine festival or a pilgrimage to Rome or whatever.

I have worked many years on emergency on-call on Christmas/easter/sundays but also (as a Christian)have not chosen jobs which would have me routinely working on a Sunday in a non essential industry. That’s my principle, I would never expect to put others out to accomodate my personal faith.

As paganism has passed the grainger test the employee would likely win when it comes to the winter and summer solstice but only if other religious celebrations were recognised by giving staff of the religion time off to celebrate.

Haven’t read the full article but I don’t see how being a cancer survivor is relevant. I mean, I’m a cancer survivor too, it’s not a free pass to get whatever you want.

Errm, I think you will find many Christians would disagree with you, on your "technicality" 😂

Not necessarily it would at most be indirect discrimination which they could attempt to justify by the need for cover

Correct

At absolute most it’s indirect discrimination but can be justified by the organisation if they need cover

this claimant is pathetic

This predated the equality act - was early 2000s

would be interesting to see if she would get the same response now

YANBU.
Ive worked with many people of different religious belief and my employer NHS did try to honour peoples needs in regard to religious days ,obviously not always possible i never came across anyone of any religion or belief system that argued it was discrimination if their request for a particular day off wasn't possible.

Whether this person was taking the mick or not, the solution to issues over different religious holidays is for more companies to consider switching to floating bank holidays.