Weekly Issue 499

Law on religion and belief

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published it’s final report as part of its strategy to improve employers understanding and practice in managing religious diversity and assess whether the existing equality and human rights legal framework on religion or belief offers sufficient protection for people with a religious or other belief.

A claim in time

The law states that claims have to be lodged within three months of the act complained of (including a continuing act) unless it was “just and equitable” to extend time. In Fairlead Maritime Ltd v Parsoya, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an indirectly discriminatory policy had continued to discriminate until the termination of the claimant’s employment which meant that his claim was in time.

Warning imposition

When deciding whether a dismissal is fair, tribunals have to consider whether the employer acted reasonably or not in treating the reason for dismissal as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee. In Appiah v Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that it was not perverse for an employment judge to find that she could not query whether a final written warning had been correctly imposed or not.