Employers who pay wage premiums to staff working on a Sunday could be acting in breach of the new religious discrimination laws.
Alan Lewis, head of employment law at Manchester based law firm, George Davies, said that Sunday is recognised as the Christian Sabbath day and for that reason an incentive is usually offered to employees in order to encourage or compensate for work on that day. Sunday premiums could be unlawful if an employer fails to treat others with different religious Sabbath days the same way.
From 2 December, UK employers will no longer be able to discriminate, directly or indirectly, on the grounds of religious belief or sexual orientation. Sunday pay premiums could certainly be regarded as direct or indirect discrimination.
Davies continued: “This argument applies equally to premiums paid to employees who work on Christmas day. If an employer does not pay premiums to other employees with different religious beliefs for days they work which have special significance in their particular faiths, they could be breaking the law.”
One Response
Sunday payments
I disagree with Mr Lewis. The majority of businesses still have a five or six day week, religious origins ceased to be relevant many years ago. Similarly, Christmas and Easter are public, not just religious holidays. If a Jew doesn’t want to work Saturdays, or a Muslim doesn’t want to work Fridays, it may be discrimination to refuse those days off without good reason, but if they are not religiously observant, and are willing to work those days, I can’t see any tribunal awarding them premium payments.