Charles Pigott explains why wide reaching equality laws cover arbitrators to plumbers
On the face of it Jivraj v Hashwani [2010] IRLR 797, [2010] EWCA Civ 712 is about an obscure corner of the law and is based on facts that few of us are likely to encounter in practice. The question the Court of Appeal had to address was whether an arbitration clause in a private agreement between two individuals infringed the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1660) (the regulations). The clause stipulated that disputes arising out of the agreement should be decided by a panel of three arbitrators, all of whom had to be “respected members of the Ismaili community”.
Given that Ismailism is the second-largest branch of Shia Islam, it was accepted that this clause engaged the regulations. The main question the Court of Appeal had to decide was whether an arbitrator was an employee for these purposes. If that were so then, subject to any genuine occupational defence, the clause would be void (see reg 35 & sch
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