The Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 No. 3162 (NI. 21)

PART VIII N.I. EXCEPTIONS

Excepted employments, etc. N.I.

70.—(1) This Order does not apply to or in relation to—

(a) any employment or occupation as a clergyman or minister of a religious denomination;F1 . . .

Sub.-para.(b) rep. by SR 2003/520

(2) Part VII does not apply to or in relation to any employment or occupation where the essential nature of the job requires it to be done by a person holding, or not holding, a particular religious belief.

[F2 (3) So far as they relate to discrimination on the ground of religious belief, Parts III and V do not apply to or in relation to any employment or occupation where -

(a) the holding, or not holding, of a particular religious belief is an occupational requirement;

(b) the application of the requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim; and

(c) either -

(i) the person (A) to whom that requirement is applied does not meet it; or

(ii) the person who applies the requirement has reasonable grounds for not being satisfied that A meets it.]

(4) So far as they relate to discrimination on the ground of political opinion, Parts III and V do not apply to or in relation to an employment or occupation where the essential nature of the job requires it to be done by a person holding, or not holding, a particular political opinion.

F3 (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1 SR 2003/520

F2 Art. 70(3) substituted (6.4.2015) by The Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (S.R. 2015/144), regs. 1(1), 2

F3 Art. 70(5) omitted (12.5.2022) by virtue of Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (c. 23), s. 3(1)(2), Sch. para. 3