Other UK cases on Muslims
and the
Race Relations Act
Tariq v Young 247738/88, EOR Discrimination Case Law Digest No 2.
The complainant alleged that one of his managers had referred to him being a Muslim in a derogatory way. He brought a complaint against his employers before the Industrial Tribunal and argued that his manager had committed unlawful discrimination under the Race Relations Act. The Tribunal found that Muslims do not fall within the protection of the Act, stating 'We find Muslims are identified by their religion and not by their race or nationality or as being an ethnic group. We find that reference to a Muslim is primarily to refer to their religion which does not fall within the Act.' The Tribunal thought that Muslims were similar to Christians in that respect, and different from Sikhs who are found in a particular region of India and are bound by culture as well as religion.
JH Walker Ltd v Hussain & Others [1996] IRLR 11
A large number of Muslim workers working in the same factory made a claim of discrimination under the Race Relations Act against their employers. The company had refused to allow them to take a day of leave to observe a religious holiday. The company had made a blanket rule that no employee could take leave at that time, as it was the busiest time of the year for the company. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the findings of the Industrial Tribunal that the employers had indirectly discriminated against the employees. By applying a requirement that no holidays were to be taken during that period, the result was that they were forbidden to take leave to celebrate their religious holiday. The company knew that the holiday was important to Muslim people and that the only group affected by the application of the rule were 'Asian Muslims', meaning that the requirement had a disproportionate impact on workers of a particular race. However, the Industrial Tribunal stated that the case could not be argued as one of direct discrimination as 'the true nature of Islam is not within the Race Relations Act'.
