Members Elizabeth Farrell Martha McAllister Ms Jennifer Burton v Lifelink — 2021

Ms Burton, a citizen of the USA, applied in October 2019 for a counsellor role with Lifelink. The respondent's application form required applicants to complete the form in full and stated that CVs, cover letters and attached documents would not be considered at shortlisting. On 8 October 2019 Lifelink told her it could not progress the application because it did not have enough information to verify that her overseas course structure and content met its recruitment requirements, said this was not a reflection on her training or qualifications, and invited her to resubmit once BACP registration was concluded. The tribunal found that this was not an absolute rejection.

Applying s.13 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal rejected the direct race discrimination claim. It held that the treatment in the 8 and 16 October emails was not less favourable treatment compared with a proper comparator, and that the reason was not race or race more generally. The tribunal accepted the respondent's evidence that Lifelink required BACP membership or equivalent because of its organisational membership of BACP, the standards and ethics associated with that membership, and the requirements of its service contracts.

Applying s.19 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal held that the relevant practice was the respondent's approach of not progressing an application where it did not have sufficient information to verify a course structure and content, while inviting the applicant to reapply once BACP registration had been obtained. It found that practice to be a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aim of reassurance to clients and contracting bodies about standards, supervision, CPD and disclosure arrangements. The tribunal accepted that individual BACP membership could have been achieved before the first interview date of 18 October 2019 or before the rolling interview process ended, declined to draw any adverse inference from the absence of a separate decision record, and made no recommendation.