Mr T. Turner v East Barnet School — 2021

The claimant was a part-time term-time science technician at East Barnet School and a practising Christian. He brought claims for unauthorised deductions/holiday pay and indirect discrimination because of religion, and sought an uplift under s.207A TULR(C)A because of the handling of his grievance.

The respondent conceded the historic holiday pay and pension contributions due up to 1 September 2019, and the tribunal ordered payment of £1,689.44 inclusive of a 10% uplift. It rejected the claimant's further monetary claim for £86.90 for the period 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020, finding that the 2019 collective agreement with Unison was incorporated into the claimant's contract through clause 7 of the original contract and had retrospective effect from 1 September 2019, so he had been paid in accordance with his contractual entitlement.

On indirect religion discrimination, the tribunal accepted that the respondent operated a discretionary leave policy under which staff could seek paid leave for religious holidays and festivals. It found no significant disadvantage to Christians as a group because Christian staff already had paid school-holiday leave covering Christmas Day and Good Friday and could also request additional leave, and it found no personal disadvantage to the claimant because he had not himself sought religious holiday leave. It held that, in any event, the policy was a proportionate means of achieving legitimate aims including inclusion, work/life balance, equality compliance and staff relations.

On the ACAS uplift issue, the tribunal found that delays in the grievance process were not unreasonable because the grievance was complex and the respondent had sought advice, but it did find an unreasonable failure to determine the claimant's appeal. It considered it just and equitable to increase the award for unauthorised deductions by 10% on that basis.