Rising number of Christian discrimination claims
Teresa Dolan, a partner at Eversheds law firm, said many accusations often stemmed from the unintentional consequences of quite small changes made in order to meet operational needs.
One area where legal experts have seen a rise in recent years concerned claims for religious discrimination from Christians who have been asked to work on Sundays.
Dolan, who was speaking at a seminar staged at the Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF) London base, asked delegates – many of whom were from the HR departments of several of the UK’s major manufacturers, if they had specific clauses in their staff contracts which explicitly stated that employees might have to work on Sundays. Few did.
‘Can of discrimination worms’
“That might well be something you’d want to have a look at,” she said. “Trying to change employee terms and conditions, either with their consent or by forcing them through, can unintentionally open up a whole can of discrimination worms. We have seen a number of claims for indirect religious discrimination over the last couple of years when Christians have been asked to work on Sundays.”
Food firms also needed to be ever more vigilant of the risk of being accused of unintentionally discriminating against women.
She said even minor changes, such as moving a shift finish from 2pm to 3pm without considering the implications that could have on childcare issues and the ability to collect children from school, could put a firm at risk.
Legitimate aims
“Changes like this can be justified to achieve what are termed legitimate aims, such as operational requirements, through proportionate means. And the proportionate means are important here. You need to show you have communicated the change early, held discussions about these issues and tried to resolve them,” she said.
Well-worded contracts would often mitigate many of these risks, Dolan added. It was vital that companies had a thorough knowledge of the different types of agreements in place, both contractual and via official documents, especially if it had acquired other businesses, she insisted.
“Before seeking to make any changes with terms and conditions there must be a full sweep of documents – not just contracts of employment,” said Dolan. “It might sound obvious but there are plenty of companies which have had severe problems because they weren’t aware at the outset what they were dealing with.”
