On January 10, a Nottingham employment tribunal gave judgement in one of the first cases of religious discrimination to make it to trial.

The case involved a residential social worker who, when applying for her job in November 2003, made it clear that she was a practising Christian and could not work on Sundays because she attended church.

This was initially accepted by her employer, but in April last year, her hours were changed and she found that she had been rostered to work from 3pm on Sunday until 10am on Monday.

This meant she was unable to attend her regular church service.

Unsurprisingly, she complained to the managing director.

The MD told her the change was permanent and that if she was unhappy, she would have to resign.

The employee took him at her word and the inevitable tribunal followed.

The claim was that she had been discriminated against as a result of her religious beliefs.

Discrimination on such grounds has been unlawful since October 2003.

The tribunal's view was that, although the requirement to work on Sundays was applied to all staff, regardless of their religious beliefs, it put practising Christians at a disadvantage because it prevented them from going to church. The employer was, in the circumstances, unable to justify the rota change as being a proportionate method of achieving a legitimate aim and was consequently guilty of unlawful discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal.

This is a reasonably open-and-shut case of religious discrimination. The decision demonstrates the pitfalls in assuming that the prohibition on discrimination applies only to minority groups.

It is also an example of the dangers inherent in playing fast and loose with the terms and conditions of employment of those with less than a year's continuous service.

It clearly gives the lie to the commonly-held view that such employees present no risk because they cannot bring unfair dismissal claims.

- Stephen Elliott is a solicitor in the employment team of North-East law firm Ward Hadaway. He can be contacted on 0191-204 4000 or by email at stephen.elliott@wardhadaway.com

Published: ??/??/2004