Ministers of Religion / Meek

[Thanks to Ed McFarlane of EEF for providing this case summary]

The EAT has handed down Judgment in the case of MacDonald v Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland which is authority for the proposition that in determining employment status for Ministers of Religion, an Employment Tribunal was entitled to have regard to the historic background and ethos of the Respondent, in particular its tradition of "independence from the state and the Civil Magistrate" and that employment status of Ministers would be inconsistent with the Church's beliefs.

The EAT held that to determine whether Employment Tribunal reasons are properly framed for the Meek test and Rule 30 (6):

It is enough if an ordinary picture is painted; a "painting by numbers" picture will do even if incomplete so long as it has the main colours and the onlooker can tell what it is a picture of. It does not need to have the detail, subtlety and qualities of, say, Michaelangelo's "Last Judgment".