Introduction
Background
Facts
Decision
Comment
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently interpreted the law on detrimental treatment for trade union activities in a way that limits the scope for employers to respond to industrial action. In a subsequent decision, it has now decided that participating staff may also bring claims under separate blacklisting regulations, which potentially entitle employees to far greater compensation in the form of an automatic minimum award of £5,000.
The EAT has ruled that employers that use lists of employees who took industrial action to treat them less favourably are liable for claims under the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 (the Regulations). It also decided that it does not matter if a prohibited list is compiled overseas if it is used against employees in Great Britain or whether the industrial action they that they took was "protected".
Employers are prohibited by law from subjecting an employee to any detriment as an individual, for the sole or main purpose of preventing or deterring them from taking part in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time or penalising them for doing so (section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA)) .
For these purposes, an "appropriate time" is specified as being outside the employee's working hours or at a time within them with the employer's consent. It would be unusual for an employer to consent to industrial action, which by its nature must generally take place during an employee's working hours to be effective. The outcome is that, until recently, employees have not enjoyed protection from being subjected to detriment short of dismissal for taking part in industrial action. For example, through their employer withdrawing discretionary benefits. This contrasts with the longstanding protection from being dismissed for taking part in industrial action, which is prohibited under different sections of the TULRCA.
However, the EAT recently decided in the case of Mercer that the lack of protection from detriment short of dismissal for the participants in industrial action amounts to a breach of their human rights.(1) This is because the ability of an employer to penalise those employees would otherwise have the practical (and concerning) effect of restricting their right to participate in trade union activities, including industrial action.
Employers are also, separately, prohibited under the Regulations from compiling, using, selling or supplying a "prohibited list" of persons who have participated in trade union activities that is compiled for discriminatory purposes.
In September 2019, a number of pilots participated in a strike called by the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), an independent trade union. Among the group of striking pilots was B Morais, a member of the BALPA and an employee at Ryanair.
As it had warned it would do, Ryanair withdrew discretionary travel benefits for 12 months from Morais and the other striking pilots. In response, Morais and many others complained to the Employment Tribunal (ET) that they had been subjected to unlawful detrimental treatment in breach of section 146 of the TULRCA and the Regulations.
The ET concluded after a preliminary hearing held before the EAT's decision in Mercer, that Morais and the other pilots could pursue both types of claim against Ryanair.
On Ryanair's appeal to the EAT,(2) it upheld the ET's decision that Morais and the other pilots could pursue both types of claim. In respect of the detrimental treatment claims, the EAT held that there was no basis for it to depart from its decision in Mercer in order to allow Ryanair's appeal.
Mercer had not considered a claim under the Regulations and, therefore, the EAT did have to decide this issue for the first time. As an important distinction from section 146 of the TULRCA, however, the Regulations do not require an employee's conduct to take place at an "appropriate time". The EAT concluded that the Regulations therefore protected Morais without needing to be interpreted in light of human rights law.
The EAT also rejected Ryanair's ground of appeal based on its prohibited list having been compiled overseas in Dublin, as:
- Morais and the other pilots were employed in Great Britain;
- Ryanair operated in Great Britain; and
- the relevant treatment took place in Great Britain.
Therefore, it was irrelevant if the list that Ryanair used for the withdrawal of benefits had been compiled in Dublin.
Finally, the EAT rejected another of Ryanair's grounds of appeal that the industrial action was not "protected" because the BALPA had allegedly not followed the relevant process to enjoy legal immunities when calling industrial action. The Regulations do not refer to those formalities and so there is no basis for any such restriction. The EAT also determined that there were no grounds to read in such a restriction for claims under section 146 of the TULRCA. Thus, employees enjoy protection under both section 146 and the Regulations irrespective of whether the industrial action that they take is "protected".
This EAT's decision is legally consistent with Mercer. However, it is further unwelcome news for employers that might wish to encourage employees not to participate in industrial action designed to damage their business. This is because awards in claims for unlawful blacklisting under the Regulations start at £5,000, rather than being based on what is "just and equitable", which might often be a far lower sum.
Nonetheless, there is some potential hope for employers. Both Ryanair and the employer in Mercer have now been given permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the EAT's decisions, with the appeal against Mercer being heard in January 2022. In the meantime, employers should exercise significant caution before taking any action against employees in response to their industrial action, other than a deduction in their pay commensurate to the duration of their action.
For further information on this topic please contact David Hopper or Toria Barnes at Lewis Silkin by telephone (+44 20 7074 8000) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The Lewis Silkin website can be accessed at www.lewissilkin.com.
Endnotes
(1) Further information is available here.
(2) Further information is available here.