My Employment Rights

The employee worked for British Airways, which had a staff dress code which forbade the wearing of a visible necklace and so prevented the employee from wearing a small, visible cross with her uniform.

The Court of Appeal found that her employer, British Airways, did NOT indirectly discriminate against the employee on the grounds of her religion.

It said that some identifiable section of a workforce, even only a small one, must be shown to suffer a particular disadvantage which the Claimant shares and rejected the submission that one individual person could be the subject of indirect discrimination. To find otherwise would  place an impossible burden on employers to anticipate and provide for what may be parochial or even facetious beliefs in society at large. 

It also said that, the original employment tribunal's findings had shown that BA's staff dress code and the ban on a visible neck adornment, was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.