Individual and collective rights case studies

Give an example of a case study where individual rights prevail over collective rights.

Religious faith being used to justify serving members of the LGBT community.

Explain the issue of faith being used to justify not serving the members of the LGBT community.

In a case involving Ashers Baking Company in Northern Ireland, the owners were prosecuted for refusing to bake a cake for a gay rights activist who had asked them to incorporate the slogan ‘support gay marriage’. In October 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the judgements of lower courts that the bakery was guilty of discrimination. The argument was that the bakery did not discriminate against the customer who was gay, but against the message on the cake (due to their religion), which they would have objected to regardless of the customer’s sexual orientation.

What was the outcome of the case concerning religious faith being used to justify refusing to serve members of the LGBT comminuty?

It was deemed that the issue was not about sexuality, but instead ‘Forced speech’- the cake business should have been allowed to refuse to right something on a cake.

Explain the case of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) that resulted in a clash between the individual rights of a citizen and the collective rights of wider society.

FGM is legally practiced by some minority groups in the UK and is a common practice amongst certain communities in Africa and the Middle East. However, this practice is at odds with most countries cultural norms and values. Under UK child safeguarding rules, schools and social services are required by law to report immediately to the police any suspected cases of FGM, which is illegal under the FGM Act of 2003. Therefore this results in a potential clash between the individual rights of a citizen to follow cultural practices, and the collective rights of wider UK society, who see the practice as child abuse.

Explain the 2016 Individual vs collective rights clash regarding Uber drivers.

In 2016, two Uber drivers sued the firm claiming that they were employees, but Uber claimed that they were self-employed. By claiming to be employees, the drivers would gain entitlement to benefits such as holiday pay and minimum wage. They were therefore fighting for the collective rights of all Uber drivers. However, they were opposed by Uber and even some of their fellow Uber drivers, who enjoyed the freedom of being self-employed and asserted their individual rights regarding employment status.

Who won the Uber case and what was the outcome?

Uber lost the case, and the collective rights of all its workers were protected at the expense of some individual drivers

Define collective rights.

They are rights held by a group as a whole rather than by individual members. They protect the interests of communities. They help with cultural preservation.

Define individual rights.

Rights that allow individuals to pursue their lives and goals without interference from other individuals or the government. The right to life, liberty etc..