Lower pay for Muslims is not discriminatory

While it acknowledged that the basic pay of the Muslim chaplins was, on average, lower than their Christian counterparts, this was simply due to the greater average length of service of the Christian chaplins compared to the Muslim ones. The prison service had not employed any Muslim chaplins before 2002, whereas it had employed Christian chaplins. The Tribunal found that the reason for not recruiting Muslim chaplins earlier was not discriminatory (there was no on-going need for them) so the Court of Appeal held that it was not open to the Tribunal to find that the length of service criterion placed them at a particular disadvantage.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.