Newcastle News June 2017

Employment Law and Court News
Employment Law Update
It has been widely reported that the case of Achbita and another v
G4S Secure Solutions NV has given employers carte blanche to ban
Muslim headscarves in the work place without facing claims of
discrimination. Indeed, right wing political parties throughout
Europe hailed and appropriated the result with French presidential
candidate Francois Fillon declaring the judgement an ‘’immense
relief’’ while the German AFD leader stated it ‘’sends out the right
message’’. In actual fact, this was a much more nuanced judgement
than these statements would suggest and certainly isn’t the ‘greenlight’
for banning headscarves that has been suggested.
Ms Achbita was employed by the Belgian branch of security company
G4S as a receptionist. After three years of working for the firm, she
decided she wanted to begin wearing a headscarf. She was dismissed
when she refused to remove it and the company claimed she had broken
an unwritten rule that prohibited religious symbols. The court held that
where an employer had a policy of maintaining religious, political or
philosophical neutrality in customer-facing roles, this must be regarded
as a legitimate aim and the dismissal was therefore deemed fair. What is
absolutely crucial and what many of the headlines decided to ignore was
that this was a ban on all religious, political and philosophical symbols.
The policy would have to have applied to the wearing of a cross, a turban
or a Star of David, for example. This does, however, somewhat contradict
the European Court of Human Right’s decision in 2013 which held that
British Airways should not have required a Christian check-in employee to
remove the cross they wore round their neck. The fact that this case was
not referred to in Achbita has not gone unnoticed and it has been
pointed out that this decision poses a potential conflict between the
concepts of freedom of religion and non- discrimination.
However, it was noted that national courts should decide in each instance
whether such a policy is appropriate or necessary. Much of the reporting
on the case omitted the fact that the policy was only considered
legitimate because it related solely to customer-facing roles. The decision
had no bearing on the wearing of headscarves or other religious symbols
in public or indeed in non-customer facing roles. Furthermore, the
question of whether the employee could have been re-deployed in a
non-customer facing position was not considered but would certainly be
a relevant factor for any employer considering adopting such a policy or
for any court determining whether the policy was fair. The ambit of this
decision was therefore significantly more limited than was suggested by
the media.
It is crucial, therefore, that employers do not see this judgement as an
opportunity to impose similar bans on the wearing of headscarves or any
other kind of religious or political symbols. Such a policy requires careful
consideration and the onus is on every employer to ensure they can
justify their dress codes from a discrimination perspective.
By Tom Clarke
National JLD Representative for the Newcastle and North East JLD
and Trainee Solicitor at Hay & Kilner
Interesting Fact:
Tom used to be in a band and once played a headline show at the O2
Academy in Newcastle to 1000 people.
Letter
JUDGE BRIAN DOYLE
PRESIDENT
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (ENGLAND & WALES)
To:
All Employment Judges and members in these regions All relevant
Regional User Groups
Dear colleagues,
Judicial changes at North Shields, Leeds and
Manchester
I write to advise you of judicial changes that will occur within the
Employment Tribunal regions centred on North Shields, Leeds and
Manchester this summer.
The Regional Employment Judge for Yorkshire & Humber (Leeds, Hull and
Sheffield), Judge Christine Lee, will retire on 31 July 2017 and will be on
final leave from 1 July 2017.
The Regional Employment Judge for Newcastle (North Shields and
Middlesbrough), Judge David Reed, will retire on 30 September 2017.
On 1 July 2017, with his agreement, I shall transfer Regional Employment
Judge Stuart Robertson from the North West region (Manchester,
Liverpool and Cumbria hearing centres) to the Yorkshire & Humber region
(to be based at Leeds). He will work with REJ Reed to create a newly
merged North East ET region, coterminous with the HMCTS North East
region, with effect from 1 October 2017. Then on 1 October 2017 REJ
Robertson will assume responsibility as the REJ for the newly merged
North East ET region.
I will nominate an Acting REJ for up to 12 months to lead the ET North
West region. I am also seeking agreement for a JAC competition to
appoint a new REJ for the ET North West region as soon as possible after 1
July 2017.
I should stress that these changes are entirely judicial. There is no present
intention to merge the ET administrative centres currently based at Leeds
and North Shields. Judges, members and users should see little or no
difference to the administrative arrangements that are in place at the
moment so far as casework, bookings, listings and hearings are
concerned. Of course, I cannot rule out administrative or estates changes
anywhere within the ET system in the future, whether as part of the
HMCTS Reform Programme or otherwise, but the changes I am describing
here are judicial changes only. It also remains the intention that the ET
will return to Newcastle city centre as soon as estates reform can provide.
REJ Lee and REJ Reed informed their salaried judicial colleagues of their
retirement plans yesterday. HMCTS staff will be informed of these judicial
changes today. It is appropriate that the staff should hear of these
changes from HMCTS management rather than from other sources. I
envisage that the judicial changes will be the subject of discussion
among judges and members and with the user groups. I shall be very
happy to respond to any questions, comments or concerns. Do not
hesitate to contact me.
With best wishes
Yours sincerely,
Judge Brian Doyle
President
Note:
An article from Angela Narey, Barrister
Representative for the Newcastle and North East
JLD, will appear in the next edition.